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18 Artists that'll help make 2018 not suck

It’s January and we’ve already got reason to look forward to the future. Promise.

Fall Out Boy, Marmozets, Black Foxxes, Waterparks, Nervus, Campe Cope and loads more are absolutely, definitely releasing records in the next few months. We’ve got the dates in our diaries and everything. Thing is, we know there’s still more to come. More reasons to smile, feel giddy and get stoked. These are the 18 albums we reckon are coming, and will make 2018 not suck.

Twenty One Pilots

2015’s ‘Blurryface’ made Twenty One Pilot s one of the biggest bands in the world. Then the standalone ‘Heathens’ drew a big, bold line underneath that fact but it’s been radio silence from the duo since they played a series of increasingly bigger hometown shows in June 2017.

Sure, they’ve probably been enjoying some much-needed R&R (nightly backflips do take their toll) but they’ve been talking about new ideas and asking the question “where do we take our fans next?” for a while now.

There’s rumours of a collaboration with Weezer frontperson Rivers Cuomo thanks to this tweet.

Met @tylerrjoseph yesterday and got his iphone password.
— Rivers Cuomo (@RiversCuomo) July 11, 2017

And it looks like the words “Echo” and “Light” might be involved somehow. (Please put on your tinfoil hat now.)

All we know for certain is that it can't come quickly enough.

Against The Current are definitely in the studio and definitely working on the follow-up to debut album ‘In Our Bones'.

“It’s going good,"the band told us late last year. "We’re writing more than we expected, but I guess that’s a good thing, right?” asked Will.
“It took a little while to shake off the dust of writing at first,” continues Chrissy. “Then we started getting into it and realised we’ve been able to write these songs already.” Wanting more, the band pushed through “and then we were able to write the songs that felt different for us. Now that we’re there, what else can we get out of this?”
“It’s like stagnant water,” reasons Will. “There’s a valve that hasn’t been opened for a little while so you gotta let it run and get the dirt out of it.”

"On ‘In Our Bones’, we were just signed to Atlantic and Fueled By Ramen, and we were really put through the gauntlet of writing with all these amazing people. People that have written Justin Bieber and things like that. It was overwhelming, and there were times when I didn’t really want to put too much of my input in because I thought these people knew best,” Chrissy continues.

“Too often I’d tell myself they’re better, they know best, and sacrifice things that were of paramount importance to me. It left me questioning my power, and the validity of my feelings. Ultimately, our voice came through on that record. The songs that didn’t have our voice on didn’t ever make it very far for that reason.” But this time, it’s all them. “It’s more, ‘Okay, this is what I want to say, and we don’t want to write about what other people have to say. We want to write about what we have to say’.” This upcoming second record, “This is Against The Current’s voice right now.”

FIDLAR released their second album ‘Too’ way back in 2015 and we think it’s high time we got another. Us? Impatient and demanding? Never.

The band haven’t let slip they’re in the studio but they have released a new cover of Nirvana’s ‘Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge On Seattle’ and been announced for American mega-festival Coachella and a handful of European shindigs like Spain’s Mad Cool so that’s enough proof for us that FIDLAR will definitely be releasing new music in 2018. Pssst. We're also optimists.

Sometimes it takes a lot of work to get the hype train rolling, what with social media blackouts and teasers about teasers. And sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes the band get straight to the point. Here's looking at you Beartooth.

2018 is gonna be the year of new riffs and big pits. Tag a bud that's as stoked as you are! ?: @BradHeaton pic.twitter.com/XXkfQHfIqE
— Beartooth (@BEARTOOTHband) January 4, 2018

Disgusting -Self discovery and understanding my depression (inward writing)

Aggressive -Fucking angry at the fact that I’m still depressed, lost, and confused
(Outward writing)

LP3 -Diving into why I’m defeated/helpless, no matter how dark and painful it gets
(Inward writing)
— Caleb Shomo (@CalebShomo) December 10, 2017

Here's a sneak peek at what's to come.

? pic.twitter.com/frSMhwgrg4
— Caleb Shomo (@CalebShomo) December 15, 2017

It’s been almost two years since Panic! At The Disco released ‘Death Of A Bachelor’, hitting number one both sides of the Atlantic and playing their biggest shows yet. We know Brendon Urie was thinking about new music last Christmas, with a hope to get in the studio last January. Jaunty festive number ‘Feels Like Christmas’ is proof he’s had time to do something. If we were gambling folks, we’d wager there’s more to come.

“It’s always surprised me what Panic! is now but in terms of where we go next, that’s up to the ambition of what happens with the albums,"he told us at the time."I never know what’s going to happen until I finish an album. You have an idea what it could be and what it means to you personally, but it’s really surprising, and lately, it’s just been amazing. I hope the future involves doing something Panic! has never done before. Maybe we’ll create a Broadway show, I’m all about Broadway, it would be so fun.” AND THEN HE WAS ACTUALLY ON BROADWAY, so we'll see what this does to the next Panic! record.

“The world is turmoil right now,” Brendon continues. “America just elected an internet troll, and it’s going to be interesting to see how it really affects us ‘cause who knows? There’s plenty of material to write about. I’ve never concerned myself with being ideally political, but there’s so much happening. I do feel strongly in my ideals and believe that music is an escape, though. It’s escapism, and I love it. I love using music as an uplifting source instead of an angry source. It’s okay to be angry, but I love using that facet to escape and uplift you.”

Can you believe it’s been over two years since Dilly Dally released their brilliant debut album ‘Sore’. That feels like a forever. Now, we aren’t going to take any cheap shots about the band dilly-dallying to release its follow-up, we like them too much for that. Anyway, here's the good news.

??Thank you all for your patience, we will have new material for you to engorge your faces with in the new year...Peace and Love ???
— Dilly Dally (@DillyDallyTO) December 12, 2017

2016’s ‘Peach’ showed a band full of gnarled, excitable promise. Since then, Culture Abuse have signed to Epitaph, released the brilliant ‘So Busted’, teamed up with Wavves for ‘Up and Down’, laid waste to Reading Festival and started work on their new album.

“When we write songs, if it comes, it just happens, it’s there. You don’t have to overthink it or force a square into a fucking round hole, that’s how it is. If it’s easy and it’s good, and we feel good, then we do it. That’s what’s going to be crazy about the next record; we’re keeping it going.”

“What does the record say? What’s the message? It’s using lyrics to tell people about me," explains David Kelling. “I just put down what I’m going through at the time, and then it’s out. Sometimes it’s cringeworthy, but that’s how I feel. Of course, I’m a worrier. I overthink things. Even in this interview, I’ll regret half of the things I said ‘cos I’m an idiot most of the time, but you put these songs out, and people say they’re really good or you meet some of your idols and they also like it. It’s a weird thing where you’re using this band to learn to love yourself.”

Last year saw Milk Teeth move to Roadrunner Records and release two fabulous EPs in the form of 'Be Nice' and 'Go Away'. And they're only just getting started.

This year, the band want to "put out a banging record." Should be easy enough, they've got form.

"It’s at demo stage. We’ve got a good selection of songs to choose from – we tend to be working on songs all the time from the time the release previous was written, so it tends to span a couple of years the selection of songs that get put out. We are always aiming to do better than whatever we’ve put out previously or if not better of the same then branch out and explore all the influences that formed this band and experiment. That’s what I love the most about Milk Teeth there’s room to move between a bunch of different genres and keep both us and fans on their toes."

Turning the lights out for a bit. New record next year. If you want to be kept informed go here: https://t.co/kkcs2y9Sle. For now, we rest.
— The Wonder Years (@thewonderyears) December 22, 2017

Well, that told you.

'Guppy' was one of the best surprises about 2017. Full of heart, fun and fizzing energy, it introduced Charly Bliss as a band you'll love for years to come. And they're already thinking about that second date.

Hopefully recording in February, the band spent the whole of August in their practice space writing new music.
“In scrapping the first edition of ‘Guppy’ and going back, we identified a lot of things that are the pillars of who we are as a band,"Eva told us when they popped over for their first ever UK headline shows. "That’s really helpful, but also, you want to do something that’s a little different, or a little more exciting for you now. We’re trying to find new ways to make the next record sound huge that isn’t just louder guitar. We’re excited about toying around with new instruments and a different pallet but still heavily committed to them hooks.

"Whenever you make a record, it’s the contents of your life and a portrait of the inside of your brain at a certain moment in your life. The first record was mostly written while I was in college and I was in a horrible, horrible relationship where I was breaking up every week. I was miserable. It’s been really different but interesting writing songs when 95% of my brain power isn’t occupied with heartbreak. For me, it was really hard to write new music until ‘Guppy’ came out because I felt like it was just stuck in limbo. As soon as it came out, I felt free. Now my brain is different, my thoughts are different, my experiences are different, and I can move on.”

The Fever, the new project of letlive.’s Jason Aalon Butler is three songs deep and each cut has left us hungry for more.

They’ve got a headline show in California on February 1st so they’ve probably got more than three songs in their collective back pockets. Let’s hope they release them soon, yeah?

Against Me! “don’t do schedules” but they also don’t do waiting around. “When it happens, it happens and it just always seems to happen,” promises Atom.

“I feel like I want to be the band playing at the apocalypse,” starts Laura with Atom adding, “It’s imminent, so…”
“That’s where I want to go musically,” continues Laura. “I want to write songs, and I want to play songs that are fitting for the apocalypse. You know in the new Mad Max, there’s that person with the guitar in front of the thing, I want that to be us. With a nicer rider and a better dressing room. If you’re faced with that, if you want to be the band that’s playing at the end of the world, what do you want to be singing about? I want to be singing love songs at the end of the world. That’s what I want to face this with. I want to be singing celebratory, defiant songs in the face of the end of the world.”

Well, it's that or Ice Cream.

Recorded a new song today about summertime & hanging in parks, riding bikes, & eating ice cream. Trying to manifest summer vibes for all!
— Laura Jane Grace (@LauraJaneGrace) January 5, 2018

'The Black album' is probably coming out this year. Or it might be a different album. either way, like it or not, you should probably expect new music from 'Weezer'.

Rivers told Dazed “The Black Album is almost done, and hopefully it comes out in May but this one got finished first and it’s good, so we brought it out.”

But then he also told us, “We like to keep each record very unified, to keep the albums as individuals. They each have their own limited pallet and their own feeling. It doesn’t feel like we’re just picking the ten best songs regardless of what they’re about or what style they are. We want the album and all the songs to fit together and work, so the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

“The cool thing about that is we’re able to keep making albums very quickly because once we finish one album, there are already a couple of other albums that are nearly done. We still have those Black Album songs… I think they will (be released) but I’ve been writing recently, and now something else is happening with some more piano-based songs.”

Who knows with this band?

The new’un from Muncie Girls is done. Be it album, EP or something else entirely, the band have nineteen songs recorded and ready to go.

“It was hell on earth. We kept having this joke that we would rename the studio and the experience ‘Pure Hell’. But not in a bad way. It was laborious, like hell is laborious. We just thought if we did 19 songs, a few of them have got to be alright, haven’t they,"askes Lande.

"I don’t know why I didn’t think it would be weird. I just thought it was so normal and then our friend Lewis, who recorded it, was like, ‘So, 19 songs, that’s a lot’. And he was right. That’s two albums. The thing is, I swear at one point we were like, ‘We have eight songs so we should probably book in some studio time’. Then it was 16, and it felt like a lot but, ‘Yeah, I have got a couple more we should probably get down’. It came out of nowhere.”

“Sonically, there’s a wider spectrum of styles,” offers Luke. “Obviously there are more songs, and not all of them will make it onto the record, but even when we narrow it down, there’s a wider spectrum of diverse sounding songs compared to the last record.”

There’s a new Papa so there’s a new Ghost album. Them’s the rules.

Speaking about the new record, the followup to 'Melioria', one of those pesky Nameless Ghouls explained, “Having in mind that the previous record was about the absence of God or the absence of deities, this new one is going to be about the return of God. You know God’s wrath cast upon the suffering humans, so it will be a little bit more biblical in that sense, which in turn makes it darker, a little bit more apocalyptic, I think. That’s basically what I can tell you about it right now.”

From The Movielife to Glassjaw, 2017 was full of long-awaited returns. We figure it's about time System Of A Down knuckle down and put out some new material. It's been thirteen years afterall. We can dream, right?

Black Peaks' 'Statues' was (and still is) a joyous, gnarled rollercoaster of tension and release. We've got some good news if you're excited for a followup.

Album 2 finished!

? - @TheICMedia pic.twitter.com/tcs8CjDuhG
— Black Peaks (@blackpeaks) December 16, 2017

Rumour has it Album 2 is heavier, even more disgusting and even more winding. We're even more stoked.

Bring Me The Horizon

haven't played a live show since April 2017. That's plenty of time to record a new album, right?

'That's The Spirit' saw the band change speeds once again, while their show at London's Royal Albert Hall was proof they can pretty much go wherever they want next. There's been snippets of various members in the studio so it looks like things are starting to awaken. Excited? That's the spirit.

18 Artists that'll help make 2018 not suck

Twenty One Pilots

Against The Current

FIDLAR

Beartooth

Panic! At The Disco

Dilly Dally

Culture Abuse

Milk Teeth

The Wonder Years

Charly Bliss

The Fever

Against Me!

Weezer

Muncie Girls

Ghost

System Of A Down

Black Peaks

Bring Me The Horizon

Bring Me The Horizon

Taylor Swift and Jack Antonoff have written a new song for Toy Story 5, inspired by Jessie

Phoebe Bridgers has confirmed a surprise Madison Square Garden show with $1 tickets

Why did The 1975 work best when they stopped trying too hard?

Kelela confronts emotional labour on her new single ‘point blank’

18 Artists that'll help make 2018 not suck

Twenty One Pilots

Related Articles

Against The Current

FIDLAR

Beartooth

Panic! At The Disco

Dilly Dally

Culture Abuse

Milk Teeth

The Wonder Years

Charly Bliss

The Fever

Against Me!

Weezer

Muncie Girls

Ghost

System Of A Down

Black Peaks

Bring Me The Horizon

Bring Me The Horizon

Taylor Swift and Jack Antonoff have written a new song for Toy Story 5, inspired by Jessie

Phoebe Bridgers has confirmed a surprise Madison Square Garden show with $1 tickets

Why did The 1975 work best when they stopped trying too hard?

Kelela confronts emotional labour on her new single ‘point blank’