Pop punk is very much having a ‘moment’ right now. While that’s all fine and dandy, it does mean that true gems are that much more likely to get lost in a sea of P.E. shorts and Parker Cannon impressions. So when we hear something truly stand-out, it’s our duty to bring it to your attention.

Step forward, then, Manchester’s Tirade. Their latest single, ‘Snakes and Social Ladders’, blends the summery vibes of the best pop-punk with riffs and rhythms reminiscent of early-00s British rock to great effect. There’s an EP coming later this year, and we can’t wait. In the meantime, you can buy ‘Snakes and Social Ladders’ from Tirade’s bandcamp page.

In the first of a new series of podcast interviews, Rob Barbour chats to Becky Blomfield, bassist and vocalist for rising stars Milk Teeth.

On the eve of the release of Milk Teeth’s début album, ‘Vile Child’, learn more about the making of the album, the “physically exhausting” nature of writing and recording such raw, personal songs and Becky’s more prominent role fronting the band following Josh Bannister’s recent exit.

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Some footnotes:

The band whose name Becky and Rob both manage to forget was Safe To Say, and the ‘Neil’ referred to throughout the second half of the podcast is producer Neil Kennedy, of Ghost Cub.

As ever, our intro song is: You’re So Vain PT II – The Dopamines (buy it here)