Averaging an age of just 18 (17 when they wrote and recorded Equal Measures in 2014, with former Bring Me The Horizon / now All Time Low sound guy Phil Gornell), Milestones have meticulously constructed five songs that positively belie their young age and relative inexperience; Equal Measures is the glorious, compelling sound of raw, natural talent put to the test, tracks such as anthemic single ‘Nothing Left’ offering up simple but soaring melodies that tingle the nape of your neck and leave you totally hooked. Here vocalist Matt discusses the creation of the artwork for their debut… “For our EP artwork we decided to go with Bootch Art & Design because he has completed some amazing work in the past. For example, he worked with our lads in Yeah Detroit (whom we toured with in February), so we went from there really. We mentioned what concepts we wanted to portray and then altered a few different sketch versions until we were happy. The creation of the cover really was based around the lyrics concerning uncertainty, which focus mainly a sense of security being taken away from you. When you cherish something so close, sometimes you forget that the feeling isn't invincible and isn't eternal. We tried to capture this by featuring a guy leaving his home, as a home represents what I mentioned; security. You never expect your home to not be there the next day, the same way the lyrics portray that sense of uncertainty and feeling lost. We also wanted the setting to be a wooded area, in order to give the idea of being lost afterwards. It's not like he's just losing his home and everything he's known, he also has absolutely no idea where he's going now, he's completely lost and alone. I suppose the whole record is a quiet reminder for me never to hold on and be too certain on things. Never to count on tomorrow really. We're very pleased with the outcome and would like to thank Bootch for doing a good job with it!” Equal Measures is out the 6th of April! Check out Milestone's video for 'More to Me' below:
Pop-Punk: just in case you missed the billboard sized memo, it’s back, hotter than ever, and it now comes in a fetching shade of British. Hot on the heels of fellow countrymen Neck Deep, ROAM, As It Is and Trash Boat, Brighton quintet Six Time Champion are making their presence felt with storming new five-tracker, Expecting Honesty. Released on the 1st December, the work is buoyant with hooks and drives its points home with fiery panache, Six Time Champion’s rougher edge reveals their boisterous live energy. Here STC talk through the artwork for Expecting Honesty... When we first began putting some thought towards the artwork for “Expecting Honesty” we toyed around with a few ideas, mostly hand drawn designs at first as we had come across a number of artists, whose work we all really loved. We threw together a few sketches whilst at the recording studio but never really managed to create a rough design that we were all totally sold on, so eventually we decided to break the confinement of illustrated designs and look further afield. Watch the video for Expecting Honesty below. A couple of weeks passed with nothing really springing to mind for any of us, until eventually Rich threw an idea out to us. The idea was simple and based around some of the lyrics in the track “Dragging My Feet”. To put it simply, the initial idea was to have a pair of hands full of ash, holding a gold object, to tie in with the lyrics “If you take all of your problems and burn them with the lies you've told, although the smoke might fill your lungs in the ashes you'll find gold”. Rich actually sent us all an amusing photo of himself holding rice as a substitute for ash to give us a solid idea of what he had in mind. So we all agreed this simple idea had some potential, we also agreed that it should perhaps be photographed rather than illustrated to give it a more authentic feel. That’s when we turned to our good friend Jake Ratcliffe, having worked alongside him right from the start. We knew we could rely on him to take the idea and create something quality, and bring out thought behind the design. After gathering some ash, and an old pocket watch, the idea finally came together. As Jake sent over the final version it instantly became something we were all very fond of, especially seeing as it actually holds direct relevance to the E.P. itself. Six Time Champion release ‘Expecting Honesty’ on 1st December
Last night, Real Friends took to Facebook and explained the concept behind Maybe This Place Is The Same and We're Just Changing's artwork. It turns out that it actually has a really relevant meaning in relation to the album. Read the what they had to say below: 'Ever since we started this band I always wanted our fans to understand every aspect of it. We want you to understand our lyrics, our music, our motivations, and even our album art work. There are so many records that I hold close to my heart and I have no idea what the songs are about. Most of those records I have no idea what the significance of the album art is either.
I am writing this because I want to tell you the meaning behind the art work from 'Maybe This Place Is The Same And We're Just Changing.' As a listener of this band you deserve to know.
The album art on all of our releases have always been pictures. We do this because we feel like it defines us. We are just five normal dudes that play music. We have never wanted to give off a flashy look or anything. So we felt it was fitting to keep the picture theme going for the art work of our newest album. All of the past releases have had washed out looking pictures. For this one we wanted to go with a cleaner look. We also shot the picture with film to give it a more natural look.
The chest that all the objects are on is a sign of the past. It signifies still having old memories. I guess kind of like still holding onto them instead of letting them go. The picture frame and car keys carry over imagery that's used in the lyrics of the album. There are multiple times the album talks about driving and pictures. The small army men on the chest are a sign of fighting. More so fighting inside your head with your past, change, and growing older. They are also a sign of youth.
The most important part of the album work is the old rusted out bird bath. The most interesting part of it is that one of the bird is all rusted out and the other is still very white. The bird bath was sitting outside in backyard for quite some time. It's pretty interesting that over the years one bird stayed so white and the other became so old looking. I feel like it was a great sign to show the most important theme of the album, change. You can take it however you want to take it really. But for me it shows that at times we feel so new and at other times we feel so rusted out. It really shows that over time we can get so beaten down. But it's nice to know that when we feel that way the less worn out version of us is still there too. It's easy for us to forget that in life.
I hope when you look at the album art you see a little more meaning to it now. Thanks for reading'.
