As you may be familiar, Dear Reader, we love a new pop star. The potential, the promise, the buzz of something currently not fully realised – it’s one of the most exciting things you can find in music. That’s why we’re not scared of pushing those bright young things into the limelight, and also why we’re so delighted to bring you this month’s edition of Dork, out today (Friday 14th May), featuring a debut cover appearance for the magnificent Holly Humberstone.
With critical acclaim, fan buzz and a wave of hype behind her, our Holly isn’t just a ‘might be’. She’s an ‘already there’. Her new EP, due ‘soon’, is remarkable – a step up from last year’s already brilliant effort. There’s a (really bloody brilliant – we’ve heard it) co-write with The 1975’s Matty Healy, and a new single, ‘The Walls Are Way Too Thin’, that we’re already addicted to. And that’s just part of it. A full and frank introduction to a future A-lister, it’s just the start of a journey yet to come.
She’s leading off a quite frankly ridiculously packed issue this month. Yeah, we say that every time – but just look! There’s Easy Life, with their much-much-much-anticipated debut album. Murray is in for a chat. After a digital chase around the houses, we’ve finally pinned down chart toppers Royal Blood. No, we hadn’t forgotten them. We’re not that absent-minded.
Waterparks are fast becoming Actual Dork Icons – frontman Awsten is, well, exactly as you’d expect as we chat their new, rather confidently titled record ‘Greatest Hits’. Friends are important, and so pop chums and new teammates Bachelor are in, as is former Vampire Weekend man and general genius Rostam.
Elsewhere we’ve got Actual Celebrity – and future Powerpuff Girl(!!!) – Dove Cameron, Dayglow and his bright, contagious brilliance, and forthcoming ‘release’ chats with Jade Bird, Vistas and Bloxx. We catch up for a chatter with The Aces, decide which pop stars would be best to ‘do a heist’ (don’t ask), check-in for a day with Sinead O’Brien and engage in some quality Ross MacDonald chat with Thomas Headon. No Ross, it isn’t creepy. He just likes your bass work.
Add to that our new act introductions in hype – Allison Ponthier, Alaina Castillo, Ashwarya, Joey Maxwell, deep tan, English Teacher and ‘more’, FYI – plus the latest reviews, news and general Dork nonsense, and – yeah – there’s a lot to dive into.

You can order the new issue of Dork right now here, or subscribe and get the print edition sent directly to your door every month here. However, if you want even more from us, right now, we’re also delighted to reveal our brand new Dork Supporters scheme.
If you like what we do, we’re making available a new section of the site for those who wish to support us by signing up to a new monthly or annual subscription package. Different from our previous print-only subscriptions, the Dork Supporters scheme allows you to get early access to all our print content in digital form as soon as the issue launches, read digital versions of every single edition of Dork right back to issue 1, and get occasional exclusive extras too. You can sign up for digital-only or digital + print packages, which will give you immediate access. You can find more information here.
And don’t worry if you’re not signing up. You’ll still get everything you did before, as digital versions of our print content unlock to be read free of charge throughout the month. Enjoy!