DEADLETTER's Zac Lawrence runs through his Top 5 Moments of 2024.
(Presumably, their Dork cover must be number 6)

Best get the obvious one out of the way sooner rather than later, seeing as anyone who knows who we are will no doubt be expecting it. That's right, you guessed it: the release of our debut album. The culmination of about two and a half years' worth of touring and writing, it's a relief to have finally sent it out into the world. I imagine it can be likened to being an internet tradesperson and having a parcel sitting on the table beside your front door for 10 months, burdening you with its presence, screaming through its sellotape, "I must leave now!" And, because of this one parcel that has for so long remained undelivered, your online tradesperson account's been blocked, so you have all these other parcels that you intend to send out into the world, but they must sit tight until you rid yourself of the festering one. Then, finally, you arrange the UPS collection, and it's gone; it's out of your sight. You can finally move on to the next sale, the next parcel, which too can sit beside your front door for another 10 months and torment you with its existence.

and I'm not sure if the latter of these ranks as a positive event, but I consider it a "top" moment due to its significance and prevalence in my mind. Back in July, we played two festivals - Rock Werchter (2) and Down The Rabbit Hole (3) - in one day. The two shows were both up there with the best we've played this year.

However, aside from the actual sets, what remains firmly in my memory is the interview we did at the beginning of the day as we arrived at Rock Werchter. That week, I'd been intensely ill with the flu. There were several moments when I wondered if I was on my actual deathbed. I'm not very good at being ill, lying around in my own misery, doing next to nothing. It strips me of my ability to do any of the things that I deem necessary for myself in order to be of the belief that I have seized a day to its full potential; I struggle to read, I struggle to write, and going out and gardening in order to assure my bills can be paid is totally out of the question.

Anyhow, when it got to the Saturday of said week, I was probably functioning at about 65%. I was certainly better than I had been, but I didn't feel complete. We were informed that we'd be doing an interview when we arrived at the festival, so I geared up for my first bit of "socialising" since succumbing to my fever. George and I were led up a set of stairs onto a makeshift viewing platform that looked out onto the festival site. The first things we saw were two, if not three, huge television cameras. "Is this the first time you've been on Belgian television?" asked the bubbly host. Neither of us had any idea that we'd be appearing on Belgian television. They fitted us with in-ear monitors and had us assume our positions. The wire on my monitor got caught at the back, so I was stuck with a sort of "dog looking up at its owner" type stance. Paired with being able to hear my post-illness voice loud and clear in both ears, it made for one of the most uncomfortable moments I've had since being in this group.

My last, though certainly not least, top moment(s) of the year is that of seeing an increase in people at our shows belting back the lyrics at us. As the lyricist, this may seem a rather obvious aspect of shows for me to hone in on; however, I think it really does feel considerably flattering and somewhat affirming when I see people's lips moving in the same shape as the words I'm spouting out. When I sit down at a table to write a set of lyrics, the distance between the ink on the page and the general public could not be greater. So, to then see this ink evolve into something very real is an insane transition to have come to terms with. When I see people fitting in each syllable, especially considering English is not the first language of a great deal of our fan base, it never fails to amaze me. Alongside the privilege to take our music far beyond the coastlines of our Isles, it's something that we will never take for granted.

Taken from the December 2024 / January 2025 issue of Dork.