Online gambling has been a great source of entertainment and income for gamblers and owners. With the introduction of the internet, online casino popularity grew as well, as the way gamblers play it has dramatically changed.
Plenty of online casinos today stand out from the massive review sites in the industry. These online casinos exceed the expectation of online gamblers, leading them to gain excellent ratings.
How online gamblers rate an online casino supports the profit-making of a website. If the rating is good, the profit is good as well. On the other hand, if online gamblers rate online casinos negatively, it will significantly impact their system.
If possible online casinos should always keep a positive impact on their gamblers. In that way, the flow of their profit is continuous.
On online casino sites like casinofia.se, providing a consistent service is the key to the success of online casinos today. Keeping a consistent service is complex primarily because many online adjustments and upgrades are happening.
Moreover, if gamblers are satisfied with the games and bonuses they can gain in an online casino, they will support the system by giving them a positive rating. However, many gamblers are curious about how their rating dramatically impacts the profitability of online casinos.
How Does It Impact?
Online casino profit depends on the gambler’s rating. If bettors are satisfied with the casinos they sign-up they will help the platform to become better by rating them greatly.
It is their way of letting others know that when they sign up on this site, they will experience quality gaming services. Most gamblers are looking for casino ratings before signing up, specifically those who have already experienced losing money because of online gambling.
Because of that, they become picky and create trust issues with an online casino that provides fake ratings. Some online casinos only offer positive ratings and eliminate the bad ones because they want to protect the credibility of their platform.
Although they have positive reasons, it won’t be fair for gamblers because they may enter an online casino that is not truthful. The negative impact of this action will, later on, be exposed as the online casino progresses.
Other online casinos get away with the negative result but hopefully, if you are an owner, ensure you show both positive and negative feedback to your gamblers. And let the audience decide whether to join or not. Besides, it is their right to know the exact details of your casino platform.
Increase High-Rollers
One of the assets of online casinos is their high rollers. It is because they are the gamblers that bring colossal betting money.
High rollers can bet thousands of dollars in one game and do it again in the next. Most high rollers are wealthy individuals that love to gamble.
However, these gamblers are also strict on trusting online casinos, so they prefer an online platform with the most excellent rating. Even if the betting amount in leading online casinos is high, it won’t be a problem for them as long it has a good standing and excellent gaming rates.
Increase New Members
Of course, if an online casino attracts new gamblers to the system, it will increase its profit. Over time online gamblers are beginning to learn and be knowledgeable on how to pick a casino platform to trust correctly.
There are already plenty of casino guides that exist online that they can read for free. The rating of an online casino is a primary system that makes a site trustworthy.
Indeed, plenty of legit online casinos today operate; however, only fee casinos can provide consistency of game service. It is why they gain inconsistent ratings as well—which is not good because it will affect the decision of new players.
If possible, online casinos should always keep on a consistent phase so that gamblers playing on the site can also provide a compatible rating. New members can easily organize their thoughts by signing up on the platform.
Advance Gaming System
Of course, if you already gather a lot of new gamblers to sign up in your online casino, it will also maximize your profit. You can now have enough budget to advance your gaming system to provide the better service that your players deserve.
In this case, you are not just making your business fruitful but also gathering excellent reviews for your new consumers.
Conclusion
Like any other business, including online casinos, strives to have an excellent rating to its consumers. It is essential for all online businesses because it will help their industry grow and provide better service for the next new consumers.
The ratings can strongly impact an online casino site’s profit, and it is because the excellent rating of online gamblers provides greater chances for the casino site to attract new players. On the other hand, a lousy rating will cause a lot of losses in online casinos.
On August 27, 1945—mere weeks after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and six days before the official surrender to the Allied Powers—the postwar occupation of Japan effectively began when western military forces landed in Tokyo Harbor. Although he wouldn’t arrive for another three days, the United States’s Gen. Douglas MacArthur was placed in charge of the occupation as SCAP (Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers) and tasked with “re-educating” the Japanese people. Per many U.S. politicians of the time, extreme nationalism and militarism had pushed Japan into its earlier expansionist history; MacArthur’s mission was to quench said influences and transform the island country into the “Switzerland of Asia.” Fully aware of the media’s influence on the public, he authorized the immediate creation of the Information Dissemination Section for the purpose of censoring Japanese literature, radio, and—of course—movies.1
On September 22, the Information Dissemination Section was rebranded the CI&E (Civil Information & Education) section2 and initiated new directives on what was allowed, not allowed, and recommended in Japanese motion pictures henceforth. In addition to identifying forbidden subjects—e.g., nationalism, militarism, and themes of vengeance—the CI&E advocated making new films that promoted democratic values. Favorable topics included soldiers reintegrating into society (Hiroshi Shimizu’s 1948 Children of the Beehive), the emancipation of women (Akira Kurosawa’s 1946 No Regrets for Our Youth), the peaceful formation of labor unions (1946’s Those Who Make Tomorrow, directed by Kurosawa, Kajiro Yamamoto, and Hideo Sekigawa), and social tendencies such as young people obeying their hearts—rather than their parents—in determining who they marry.
One of the directors most active on this latter front was Keisuke Kinoshita. The son of grocers in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, Kinoshita decided at age eight that his destiny was to become a movie director and as a child even attempted to run away to Kyoto (where most period films were shot). After graduating from a photography school, he started his film career in the laboratory department at Shochiku’s Tokyo location, later became chief cinematographer to Yasujiro Shimazu, graduated to the role of assistant director, and in 1943 began helming movies of his own.3
Kinoshita’s later role as a director of democratic films was, in some ways, foreshadowed by his wartime efforts. Despite their outwardly fascist appearance, these films often included moments of pacifism and forward thinking. 1944’s Army, for instance, followed militaristic parents transforming their weak son into a dedicated soldier but concluded with the mother tearfully chasing her child through the street as he marches toward deployment. Tadao Ikeda’s screenplay had simply described the mother seeing her son off, leaving the finer details up to the director,3 and Kinoshita delivered an emotional climax implying anti-militaristic sentiment. Although critics and filmmakers have argued more nuanced interpretations of this ending, the finale allegedly provoked accusations of treason;4 the Information Ministry denounced Army as an anti-war film;5 and Kinoshita consequently didn’t direct again for the remainder of World War II.
Also noteworthy in these early films was sympathy for the romantic pursuits of young Japanese. The overtly nationalistic The Living Magoroku (1943) contained a subplot focusing on an interclass couple initially forbidden to marry but who ultimately receive blessings to be together; a young woman in Jubilation Street (1944) resists efforts to be married off, electing to wait for the man she loves, and even receives an apology from her meddlesome mother. This empathy continued—and was welcomed—in Kinoshita’s films of the immediate occupation years: a daughter in Morning for the Osone Family (1946) rejects an arranged marriage proposed by her militaristic uncle; a repatriated soldier in The Girl I Loved (1946) peacefully allows his crush to marry the man of her choosing.
Then came the director’s 1947 gem Phoenix, which placed the clash between young couples and disapproving parents at the forefront and featured physical acts of affection previously outlawed in Japanese movies. The nation’s pre-war censors associated kissing with western behavior and the most private of acts between married couples; as a result, love scenes in foreign movies were typically axed, and Japanese films with kissing scenes were yanked from distribution—even if they managed to initially clear the censors, as was the case with Keisuke Sasaki’s Women Are in Every World(1931). But once the CI&E came into power and began actively encouraging love scenes—under the argument that Japanese needed to outwardly express their feelings—more and more films began showing scenes of physical love, sometimes for sensational effect, other times to accentuate relations between the characters. Kinoshita’s Phoenix featured two moments of unsimulated kissing between stars Keiji Sada and Kinuyo Tanaka and treated them as emotional climaxes in the story.6
Although not as strong a film as Phoenix, in some ways Kinoshita’s next project, Marriage (1947), was his ultimate depiction of romance in occupied Japan, as it cast its young lovers and their plight within the confines of an actively struggling society. Kinoshita’s previous films glossed over postwar hardships: The Morning for the Osone Family concluded with the dawn of occupied Japan and looked positively toward the future; The Girl I Loved acknowledged World War II but didn’t passionately address major changes thrust upon the nation; and Phoenix,set primarily in wartime, shied from addressing negative consequences of foreign control. However, while the CI&E and CCD (Civil Censorship Detachment, the military board that screened finished movies prior to release) outlawed criticism of the occupation, Japanese films of the late ‘40s increasingly showcased the immense poverty that was sweeping over the country. Kinoshita’s Marriage was one such film, following two young people struggling to find happiness amid a society overrun with stagflation.
The Housing Census of 1948—conducted one year after the film under discussion—found that 2-6% of Tokyo households consisted of “temporary housing, generally built by the resident himself, [often] sheds constructed with metal sheets, scrap lumber, etc., temporary shelters made in burnt buildings and those covered with tent or marshreed screens.”7 The dramatis personae of Marriage aren’t quite as bad off, as they live in a traditional home, but nonetheless must contend the widespread unemployment and surging prices. (The national wage index of 1947 was a harrowing 20, compared to the index of 100 from ten years earlier.)8 In an early scene, a mother (Chieko Higashiyama), her youngest grown daughter (Kuniko Igawa, the romantic interest in The Girl I Loved), and her adolescent son (Shozo Suzuki) sit around their table talking about: how only the family’s daughters are drawing income; how the son might have to drop out of school to save money; how they’re resorted to pawning possessions to pay bills; how prices keep rising; and how there’s no end in sight for the dire situation they live in. Complications deepen when the father (Eijiro Tono) turns down a well-paying job upon learning his prospective boss is profiteering—and serving a clientele of fellow profiteers—while the working class continually suffers. Due to these financial woes, the elder sister, Fumie (Kinuyo Tanaka), puts off marrying her fiancé, Sugawara (Ken Uehara).
Kinuyo Tanaka had previously enacted the controversial climax of Kinoshita’s Army, then came to represent young Japanese seeking romantic emancipation in Phoenix; now she was a working-class daughter sacrificing happiness for her family’s survival. In Marriage, the war separated Fumie and Sagawara for three years, mass poverty keeping them from tying the knot an additional eighteen months. However, compared to Kinoshita’s previous film, familial opposition is a significantly less contending force. Fumie’s parents, from the beginning, have given their blessing; Sagawara’s ailing mother (who remains off-screen throughout the movie) tries to dissuade the union simply on the grounds that Fumie’s parents might not financially recover anytime soon; through a mediating sister (Yukiko Kuji), she tries to persuade her son to marry someone else. At the picture’s end, Sagawara receives word that his mother’s close to death; in what surely pleased the occupation censors, Fumie’s parents encourage her to accompany him to his hometown in Kyushu, to pursue her own life and happiness.
The screenplay, by director Kinoshita and Kaneto Shindo, uses extensions of the poverty theme to further enhance the era in which this picture was made. One striking—albeit narratively inconsequential—“time capsule” moment consists of Sugawara and Fumie watching labor union activists march through the city. As mentioned earlier, the peaceful formation of labor unions was among the subjects heartily recommended to Japanese filmmakers in the occupation’s early years—as it was likewise being encouraged to working class people at this time. 1946 had witnessed new legislation such as the Labor Union Law and the Labor Relation Arbitration Law, and the movies were among the industries nurturing organized labor. In 1946, the All-Japan Film Employee Union Association—a parent organization for the studios’ individual unions9—was formed, and Toho, which possessed the strongest union among the film companies, propagandized the movement with their much-derided Those Who Make Tomorrow (1946).
The labor union scene in Marriage is also contextually fascinating as it appeared at a time when the occupation began shifting its outlook on workers’ movements. As cold war tensions escalated between the United States and the Soviet Union—and in the wake of contentious strikes throughout 1940s Japan (most notably at Toho, which endured three strikes between 1946-1948, the third of which warranted military attention)—labor unions came to be associated with communism and were deemed a threatening practice—to the point where Gen. Douglas MacArthur suppressed a general strike scheduled in winter 1947.10 The occupation didn’t outright ban depictions of labor unions in movies, but CI&E’s censors received new instructions: to closely scrutinize such scenes and as early as 1948 were removing those deemed contentious (i.e., ones villainizing capitalists).11 Kinoshita’s Marriage was released in March 1947—between the banned strike and the tightened censorship—and might’ve been one of the last occupation-era scenes to depict vocal cries for reformism. (The activists call out, “We have tolerated exploitation for too long! The poor, rise!”)
Amusingly, the film’s least “democratic” moments are those between the two lovers, as there are no climaxes of physical affection like in Phoenix. This may stem from the personal politics of leading actor Ken Uehara. Uehara had been a major star since the ‘30s and was frequently paired alongside Kinuyo Tanaka in love stories such as The Compassionate Buddha Tree(1938), which shattered pre-war box office records, spawned numerous sequels, and—in accordance with pre-occupation censorship—contained no love scenes of “western” fashion.12 Uehara in fact had been the first choice to play Tanaka’s partner in Phoenix; however, the actor declined that part due to the kissing scenes. Per his belief, because kissing in public was still uncommon in Japan, there was no need to depict it in motion pictures.13 Perhaps for this reason, the romantic scenes in Marriage remain largely at arms-length; the closest the stars come to Hollywood-style intimacy is during a ballroom dance.14
Marriage begins similarly, pictorially, to how it ends. The opening shot is a distant view of the two lovers as seen from the street of a Tokyo suburb. The final shot shares the exact same framing, except now the subject is Fumie racing through a snow flurry to catch up with Sugawara as he boards a train—all accompanied by the soothing music of Chuji Kinoshita (brother of the director and his frequent composer). Keisuke Kinoshita would continue making films throughout his long, productive life, including another occupation-era romance (1949’s Here’s to the Young Lady, which tackled the subject of arranged marriage and—despite ending with the heroine choosing her partner out of love rather than coercion—required deletions per the censors.)15 But of all his films in that latter category, none captured occupied Japan as vividly as this one. While little known outside of Japan, Kinoshita’s Marriage is a film of great historical interest, reflecting a nation undergoing immense change.
Uehara’s conviction didn’t last. In Kozaburo Yoshimura’s Night River (1956), he performed a very steamy, erotic love scene with Daiei starlet Fujiko Yamamoto.
Alice Boman has teamed up with Perfume Genius’ Mike Hadreas for a new song, ‘Feels Like a Dream’, the latest offering from Boman’s upcoming album The Space Between. Check out a video for it, directed by longtime collaborator Jeanne Lula Chauveau, below.
“I have been listening to Alice for a long time, and her music has been a particular comfort to me over the last couple of years,” Hadreas said in a statement. “There is sadness and longing in her songs, but always in tandem with a singular warmth and generosity.”
Talking about the new single, Boman commented:
In the past, I’ve written a lot of songs about disappointments, heartbreaks, and the longing for love. Being in love — I thought it would be so hard to write songs about that. Not wanting to sound too cheesy. But love can be cheesy. And this song is about how it sometimes feels like a dream to be with that someone. Especially when you’ve been wondering if you’d ever find love.
Me and Mike have been writing to each other on Instagram here and there. Once we, talked about maybe doing a cover of a mutual favorite song, Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Storms’. When I talked to Mike about doing something together for the album I was working on and sent him a few demos, he chose ‘Feels Like a Dream’. I think it works beautifully as a duet — us representing and singing from the two sides of a relationship. I have listened to Perfume Genius for a long time and love his voice and sound, and I’m thrilled that he wanted to be a part of this.
The Space Between comes out October 21 via [PIAS].
THICK is the Brooklyn pop-punk trio composed of vocalist/guitarist Nikki Sisti, vocalist/bassist Kate Black, and vocalist/drummer Shari Page. After forming in 2014, the group started gaining traction with a series of EPs, including 2016’s It’s Always Something… and 2018’s Would You Rather?, before dropping their debut album, 5 Years Behind, on Epitaph right when the pandemic hit in 2020. They’ve just followed it up with their second album, Happy Now, which finds them reuniting with producer Joel Hamilton. Sisti has often referred to the band’s output as a “living diary,” but while the songs on 5 Years Behind spanned a wider period of time, Happy Now serves as a raw document of processing chaos and anger that’s yet to be fully released. The result is a tight, melodic, and genuinely fiery collection that turns creeping feelings of self-doubt into soaring anthems with a mix of confidence, vulnerability, and tongue-in-cheek humour; a reminder that you can’t force the hurt out of your life, but there’s power in letting it guide you in new, exciting directions.
We caught up with THICK for this edition of our Artist Spotlight interview series to talk about how their process has changed since their debut, happiness, and what inspires them about each other.
Take me back to when you released your debut album, 5 Years Behind, back in March 2020. How do you remember that time? What has the journey to Happy Now been like?
Shari Page: Obviously, around when the album came out, there’s a lot of chaos going on in the world. But a lot of those songs we wrote a few years before Five Years Behind came out. So in terms of this album, we were in such a different mindset because we were so excited to write and got more comfortable with all the crap going on with a pandemic, which is never fully comfortable. But it was just exciting to write new music and just write from a more mature mindset. I feel like every year, we’re getting older and more mature, and I think you really hear it on this album.
Kate Black: Yeah, and compared to the last cycle, it was definitely interesting. When the album was coming out, I was actually in Europe when COVID was starting to really bubble up. And I came home to New York being like, “This is going to be really bad.” And everybody looked at me like I was absolutely crazy. Everyone thought I was overreacting. I think everybody in the world, no matter what your situation was, kind of felt like the rug got pulled out from underneath you. For us, it had been this really exciting moment where, like Shari said, it was a combination of all these things we did from years before but finally were getting released into the world. It was our first LP ever, it was our first LP on Epitaph. It was supposed to be a big deal, we had lots of tours planned. And it all came crashing down. The album released March 6, I think March 10 or something was the day that SXSW got cancelled. And from there, it was like, “Okay, this is all gonna be a mess”. To Shari’s point, it was very interesting going from that experience to having something completely different and living almost in a vacuum, totally without shows. Because shows are kind of how came up as a band, our live performance is very much us. And so I think it was almost the polar opposite experience between the two albums and what kind of worlds they got developed in.
How did you see that difference affecting the new material?
Nikki Sisti: I’m curious how it connects to the audience. For the first album, we played forever in front of people, we knew how to move the audience and move the crowd. But it’s cool that we’re not basing – which kind of relates even to the first song, ‘Happiness’ – we’re not basing our rating off the validation of the audience. We’re basing it off what we think and we like. And trusting ourselves, which is kind of a theme in my life right now. [laughs] Even ‘Your Garden’, for example, practising it, I’ve already changed some things thinking of a live show, how I want something to end. So, live, things might shift a little bit, but I really liked that we wrote it without anybody really shaping the songs for us. It’s very authentic.
Did things change in terms of your collaborative process too, given the space that you had?
KB: I think it was pretty similar. Because there was no external input, we were so incredibly thoughtful about the choices that we made. There was a lot of conversation and there would be parts where I would say, you know, “I think this is not dynamic enough,” or “We need to have some kind of change here,” or Nikki or Shari would say the same thing. And basically, we would wait until all three people felt comfortable with this structure before it was solidified. So it was very much collaborative in making sure it felt good to all of us. Like Nikki was saying, it was really just what makes sense to us, and breaking down the details of every little section and every little drum fill and every little pause, in a way that, when we had been able to just perform things live, you kind of got what you needed out of that. Once they got performed live, we would you get out the kinks and then that was the song. Whereas this time, I think we were much more intentional.
The album is titled Happy Now, it begins with the song ‘Happiness’; at some point you ask yourselves, “Will I be happy again?” When did you realize that was going to be a running theme on the album, and eventually the title of it?
KB: After the fact. [laughs] We were discussing album titles, and we had a handful that we were considering. And that one just felt so right. Because so much of the album is an exploration of what we find to be happiness, what that means to us, and the phasing of it coming in and out of our lives. And “now” is sort of related to the impermanence of the feeling of happiness that we found threaded through afterwards.
SP: Also, a lot of artists release music and art and they’re very unhappy with it. And it’s hard to be satisfied. I think with this album overall, genuinely, we feel really happy. There hasn’t been really any looking back and being like, “We should have done it this way, it should have been mixed that way.” It just overall encompasses feeling happy about the whole process, and who we were when we were writing it.
When you say you had conversations about it, was that more related to artistic fulfilment or personal fulfilment? What were those conversations like?
KB: I think probably personal fulfilment, which would include music. If you ever go on tour with us, our band is basically like a rolling therapy session. [laughs] And Nikki actually is a therapist, but it kind of bounces back and forth between all of our lives. I think there’s a lot of focus with this group in particular about personal growth.
NS: Yeah.
KB: And continuing to evaluate ourselves and our relationships and what we want and do the inner work, and also the outer work to keep that in progression. So, I would say it’s more just about happiness and contentment and acceptance of where you are at any given moment, knowing that there’s an opportunity to take what you’ve experienced, and potentially build it or use it to fuel change or use it to fuel something new in your life. Just accepting that it’s going to come in phases.
There was an emotional honesty to your debut, but I feel like Happy Now especially doesn’t shy away from vulnerability. Do you feel that that’s a reflection of where you are as a group as well as your individual growth?
NS: Yeah, definitely both at the same time. I mean, especially being stuck home during a freaking pandemic, all you do is think and reflect. And a lot of the songs were written about past experiences, processing and thinking about them. And maybe it’s because all three of us feel so safe with each other, we’re not really afraid of saying silly things or feeling embarrassed about it. We’ve said this before, but it’s literally a living journal, all our songs. And I was a little scared. I think the song ‘Disappear’, it was a very vulnerable song, especially because it’s related to my current partner. I was like, “What if this makes him upset?” That was something I was mindful of, but part of the process is speaking the truth, and regardless of who gets affected by it. I think we leaned into that, just being honest.
Like you said, the songs reflect on past experiences and relationships, but they’re also pretty present-oriented. Was that something you were conscious of?
KB: For me, it just made sense, but I don’t think it was an intentional narrative. I think that also speaks to what you were saying about going through and processing things that happened in the past, but it’s really through the lens of, what does that mean for me now? Which allows you to accept the experience, take the space you need from it, and continue to find your happiness in the present, instead of getting bogged down or pulled back constantly into these negative thought cycles or these negative experiences that could continue to haunt you if you let them.
I’m curious about the timeline of a song like ‘I Wish 2016 Never Happened’. Was it written or titled around that time?
NS: 2016 was a rough year, I went through a lot of stuff. But that was written this past fall. I never wrote about that year, I never wrote about what happened and what I went through and what I lost or felt. And I think I was reading my old journals, and I found some things I wrote that I liked. I’m like, I should process this. Because then I started thinking about what happened, and then one night it just kind of all came out. I was just playing with my little voice note – sometimes I get this feel in that moment and it just releases it. Thinking about the song, I’m still mad about it, as you can tell. I’m not over it. We have played that song live on the past tour, and that feels really good. I still think there’s a lot ofenergy in my body about that year that I haven’t totally released.
SP: I just wanted to add it’s one of my favourite songs to play live, just because that energy and the aggression is totally there. I’m definitely super excited to be playing that again on our tour coming up.
NS: Interestingly enough, some of those lyrics relate even harder now. I’m still going through learning to trust myself over others or love myself over others. And it’s funny how it was kind of written through a cathartic process, but even in this moment, I’m like, Oh… I gotta listen to myself a little better.
KB: Giving yourself advice. [laughs]
NS: Giving myself advice.
SP: I try to listen to you better also.
NS: Thanks, Shari.
What about the recording process was different for this album?
KB: We went back to the same producers that we recorded 5 Years Behind, and we recorded in a studio close to our homes. So it felt very comfortable and less intimidating, and for me at least, less stressful than potentially other times that we’ve recorded albums. But also, what was interesting, because we wrote everything in a vacuum, there were certain parts of songs where we had written two alternate options for it, and in the studio was when we laid it out and decided works best. I think having that trust going into this session, we left a little bit more for us to figure out there and solidify there, versus the last album that I feel like every little thing was basically set in stone and then maybe we made one or two changes to melodies that were pretty minor. But I think this process was just a little more thoughtful and a little more open, and we really took the time to figure out what works best for the song and what serves the song best.
Can you each share one thing that inspires you about every person in the group?
NS: Oh, I love that question. Let me think about it. Shari, you want to go first?
SP: I was gonna say, fine, I’ll go first. Start with myself… I’m just kidding. [Nikki laughs] Well, I’ll say all around Kate and Nicole are really great friends and care about everyone’s feelings regardless of the situation. There’s always a lot of empathy. And Kate has always been such a go-getter businesswoman and has brought so much thoughtfulness and intelligence into THICK to help us really navigate and see our potential and how far we could go. I also really respect Nicole as a businesswoman, and I’ve seen so much change because we met in like 2014-15, so it’s been cool seeing a lot of growth and change in a good way. Not that before that was bad, but just going from being younger in your 20s and growing up with the person, just seeing a lot of change and seeing you grow your therapy business, has been awesome.
NS: Thanks, Shari. [laughs] I’ll go next. It’s so funny, taking compliments is awkward. I could always talk about Kate being a badass businesswoman, which is obvious, but I actually really love – Kate can kind of get a little ratchet sometimes. [Kate laughs] I think at first I was a little scared of Kate, and I still am at times, but now it’s something that really inspires me because she’s just like,“I’m mad, I want you all to know this.” Or like, “This doesn’t feel good to me and I want everyone to know why.” It’s very honest and vocal, there’s no fear. And there’s a lot of fear, I’m sure, but it doesn’t feel that way. So that inspires me. I’m becoming a little more Kate, I’m trying. And then Shari is almost the opposite. I’m really inspired by Shari’s go-with-the-flow attitude and ease. On tour, besides the fact that she always gets lost in a grocery store, she’s a very fun person to be around. But also, Shari’s just always there. Like in 2016, she was a rock of mine. Shari’s just there, and I really appreciate that part of her.
KB: I completely agree, I was gonna say something really similar about Shari. But in addition to her go-with-the-flow attitude and calmness, which I think is a good balance sometimes for Nikki and I who can be a little bit chaotic. But I think that your care and compassion for people is really beautiful, and you’re always willing to lend an ear and provide good advice. And sometimes things come out of your mouth and I’m like, “Where did you get this wisdom? Are you 100 years old? Where did this come from?” I think that’s a really beautiful quality about Shari. And then Nikki, one of the things I love about you is your energy and how you can create a spark out of thin air. And that goes for songwriting, where you just come in with ideas and you’re like, “Here’s stuff! I just have lots of stuff to give!” Or whether it’s like, “Let’s go to a dance party and go do something fun.” You’re a really good – instigator sounds negative, but you’re a good spark for when I need a little push to go do something. I think that’s fun.
NS: Awww.
SP: [laughs] Instigator.
KB: That sounds bad, definitely the wrong word.
SP: You shit-starter.
NS: [laughs] I’m a narcissist and an instigator now.
KB: No, don’t say that!
SP: As far as the music’s good.
NS: I love this question. I love you guys.
I know Shari started with that as a joke, but I think what’s more awkward than receiving compliments is saying one thing you love about yourself. So I was wondering if we could go around…
NS: Oh, this is a group therapy session, I love it. This is how we spend our time in the van.
KB: For like 13 hours.
If you don’t feel comfortable, we can definitely skip this one.
NS: No, I love this, this is actually very important. One thing we love about ourselves?
KB: I can think of one for myself. I like that I’m an extremely determined learner. So, if I choose to do something, even if I suck at it, I’ll just work hard enough to get good enough at it. Like bass, I picked up bass because I decided I wanted to play bass guitar one day and played a show two weeks later, and just continued doing it until I got good at it. I love learning new things constantly, which maybe doesn’t mean I always stick to the old things, but I’m always looking for new learning experiences. And I have the dedication to actually follow through on it and figure it out.
NS: Similar to Kate – what did you say, dedicated learner? I’m genuinely curious – I might not learn it, I’m not gonna freaking do the work [Kate laughs] – but like, I ask questions. I don’t know anything at all, in a good way. I like that I might not retain stuff or that I ask questions that might be obvious. I love that part of me, because it’s kind of – the word fearless, which I’m a very scared person in some ways, kind of shows. I’m fearlessly curious.
KB: Yeah, you’re never bashful about asking questions.
SP: Oh, it’s my turn. I like that I’m 70% funny [all laugh] –
NS: 62.
SP: I kind of bring my humour to situations. I’m somewhat patient – that’s kind of always a work in progress in life. And just being all-or-nothing. If I want to learn something and do it, I’m fully in it; if I’m not really interested, I definitely just find the exit.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.
Leeds art-rock outfit Drahla have returned with a new single called ‘Under the Glass’, their first new material since their 2019 debut album Useless Coordinates. According to a press release, it’s the first preview of their next album, which is mostly unwritten. Give it a listen below.
“‘Under the Glass’ represents a moment of creative reconnection, almost a sense of euphoria in the darkest moments – an awaited, yet slight, respite from reality,” the band explained in a statement. “The song is a collage, reworking early ideas from 2020 with newer work – bridging the gap of time, in the literal sense as well as musically. The lyrics are deliberately vague, using metaphor to interpret personal experience and emotion of loss and grief.”
Coldplay have added a string of 2023 European and UK dates to their Music of the Spheresworld tour. The run kicks off in Coimbra, Portugal on May 17 and includes shows in Portugal, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, and the Netherlands, as well as additional UK gigs in Manchester and Cardiff. Find the list of dates and watch a trailer for the tour below.
Coldplay have just completed a sold-out six-day run at London’s Wembley Stadium. The tour began in Costa Rica in March 2022; Music of the Spheres, the band’s ninth album, arrived in October 2021.
Coldplay 2023 Tour Dates:
Wed May 17 – Estádio Cidade de Coimbra – Coimbra, Portugal
Wed May 24 – Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys – Barcelona, Spain
Thu May 25 – Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys – Barcelona, Spain
Wed May 31 – Etihad Stadium – Manchester, UK
Thu Jun 1 – Etihad Stadium – Manchester, UK
Tue Jun 6 – Principality Stadium – Cardiff, UK
Wed Jun 21 – Stadio Diego Armando Maradona – Naples, Italy
Sun Jun 25 – Stadio San Siro – Milan, Italy
Mon Jun 26 – Stadio San Siro – Milan, Italy
Sat Jul 1 – Stadion Letzigrund – Zurich, Switzerland
Wed Jul 5 – Parken – Copenhagen, Denmark
Thu Jul 6 – Parken – Copenhagen, Denmark
Sat Jul 8 – Ullevi – Gothenburg, Sweden
Sun Jul 9 – Ullevi – Gothenburg, Sweden
Sat Jul 15 – Johan Cruijff ArenA – Amsterdam, Netherlands
Sun Jul 16 – Johan Cruijff ArenA – Amsterdam, Netherlands
Throughout the week, we update our Best New Songs playlist with the new releases that caught our attention the most, be it a single leading up to the release of an album or a newly unveiled deep cut. And each Monday, we round up the best new songs released over the past week (the eligibility period begins on Monday and ends Sunday night) in this best new music segment.
On this week’s list, we have the latest single from the Beths, ‘Knees Deep’, a nervously exuberant song about trying to muster up confidence; Skullcrusher’s ‘They Quiet the Room’, one of two spell-binding tracks Helen Ballentine unveiled from her debut LP last week; the upbeat, catchy new Martha single, ‘Baby, Does Your Heart Sink?’; the equally infectious and colourful ‘Peach’, the latest track from Toronto’s PONY; ‘Lot’s Wife’, a striking highlight off Why Bonnie’s debut album 90 in November; ‘Friday Night’, the breathlessly evocative new single from Beth Orton’s forthcoming record; and ‘New Face’, a dynamic track from Atlanta’s Mallbangs that swells with feelings of loss.
Michael Kors announced the launch of the new Fall/Winter 2022 Michael Kors Collection ad campaign. The campaign captured by prominent Dutch duo Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin features Adut Akech and Rianne Van Rompaey in this season’s most glamorous looks. Luxurious extravagance celebrates the allure of New York City with bold, confident imagery.
Talking about the campaign Michael Kors stated: “For fall, I wanted the collection to echo the energy and big city glamour of New York, when you’re out on the town… the clothes and accessories are really everything you need for stepping up, stepping out and making an entrance.”
Last month, the first teaser trailer for The Idol, the upcoming HBO series co-created by the Weeknd’s Abel Tesfaye and Euphoria‘s Sam Levinson, was unveiled. Today, another teaser has arrived, following its debut at the Weeknd’s concert in Las Vegas last night (August 20). Abel Tesfaye and Lily Rose-Depp star in the series – which the new trailer reveals also features Moses Sumney – alongside Troye Sivan, Suzanna Son, Jane Adams, Dan Levy, Da’vine Joy Randolph, Hank Azar, and Blackpink’s Jennie. Watch it below.
Earlier this year, it was announced that director Amy Seimetz was leaving the show as major creative changes were made behind the scenes. “‘The Idol’s creative team continues to build, refine, and evolve their vision for the show and they have aligned on a new creative direction,” HBO said in a statement in April. “The production will be adjusting its cast and crew accordingly to best serve this new approach to the series. We look forward to sharing more information soon.”
The Weeknd is currently touring in support of his latest album, Dawn FM, which arrived in January.
Eddie Vedder has performed a cover of Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros’ ‘Long Shadow’, from the posthumous 2003 album Streetcore. Lance Bangs filmed Vedder’s performance of the song, which you can check out below.
“I just think that what Joe did with the Mescaleros and those records, and those songs, and those words, it was a very communal sound,” Vedder said. “I think when you have a communal sound, the listener feels like they can be part of that community.”
To celebrate what would have been Joe Strummer’s 70th birthday on Sunday, August 21, Dark Horse Records has also unveiled ‘Fantastic’, a previously unreleased track that was one of Strummer’s final recordings. It will appear on the upcoming box set Joe Strummer 002: The Mescaleros Years, which arrives on September 16.
