“Baaaaabe, everything’s going mad. It’s hard to keep up sometimes.”

Cassyette’s diary is hard to keep up with. She’s going to America with YONAKA, doing her headline tour, featuring a show at the Scala in King’s Cross. And then after that, in a move no one could have predicted, she is going on tour with Canadian legend Bryan Adams. In between all that, there is also the challenge of releasing her debut album, the wonderfully titled ‘This World Fucking Sucks’.

“This year is going to be a mad one,” she laughs. But such is life when you’re one of the country’s most exciting and hotly-tipped artists right now.

Musically, anyway. The title arrived after a day throwing ideas around in the studio in America with Crosses production whiz Shaun Lopez (she also worked with Tylr Rydr and Olly Burden). “I was in a bad mood, on the first day of my period when I’m always grumpy and nobody should talk to me, and it just came out – it was perfect.”

“It was a really big thing for me, in terms of achievement, because I’m really not very good at focusing on stuff for that long,” she says. “The music industry moves more slowly than my brain does as well. I’m impatient, babe. I feel like people either think I’m crazy, or a bitch, because I’m like, ‘We need to do this now!’ I’m very direct, so I can get frustrated by having to wait, or keep doing something for too long.”

The album itself took a bit of time coming together as Cassyette was dealing with the grief of the loss of her father. Having lost him suddenly three years ago, she likened the finished thing to “opening your diary to the world”. Only, she found, she wasn’t quite ready, couldn’t bring them to a close.

“I’d been writing these songs since my dad passed, but some of the things I couldn’t finish,” she says. “I wasn’t dealing with things very well at the time. So I’d write things, and then leave them.”

During this period, Cassyette (naturally) spiralled, and found herself in a battle with drugs and alcohol. Cassyette managed to get sober, partly on instruction from her management team, who warned her that she could lose everything she had worked for—something her dad would not want to see.

“When I was in a really bad spout of my addiction, I couldn’t actually finish the songs because I was not in my right mind,” she says. “When I got sober, which is now a year and a half ago, I came back to them, and literally within 20 minutes, I’d finished them.”

Part of the problem was having to reengage with the grief.

“You have to put yourself back into the headspace,” she confirms. “So it was a lot to deal with. It was very emotionally draining, but in a really beautiful sense. It made me go through it again. Writing the whole album was like a therapy session that lasted a whole summer.

“It was hard – one of the hardest things I’ve ever done,” she says, “but I came out the other end feeling refreshed.”

But come out the other side, she did, and there is an album to show for it. It is a record that traverses a spectrum, from ballads to rock club bangers to thumping nods to Berlin techno. This World Fucking Sucks is released on August 23 via 23 Recordings.

Catch Cassyette, Witch Fever and Harpy at the following:

April

1 Cardiff The Globe
2 Bristol The Fleece
4 Manchester Academy 2
5 Wolverhampton KK’s Steelmill
7 Glasgow SWG3 Warehouse
8 Sheffield Leadmill
10 Leicester O2 Academy2
11 London Scala

Along with the inclusion of Skindred and Yonaka, the rock focused festival also confirmed eleven further bands. The annual summer event’s line up now includes Alestorm, Banks Arcade, Bimini, Dana Detata, Dirty Honey, Heriot, Kid Brunswick, Orbit Culture, Red Fang, The Velveteers and Will Haven. The festival took to Instagram to share the new line up poster complete with the new additions.

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Yonaka will be making their return to Download this year after taking part in last year’s Download pilot festival, the band played on Saturday 19th June 2021 alongside headliners Enter Shikari. The band’s frontwoman Theresa Jarvis has spoken concerning their upcoming appearance, the singer also describes her personal connection to the festival, “Aghhhh Download! Some of us have been going since we were 14 so it’s an absolute pleasure to be performing there again. The energy is always amazing and such an exciting lineup of music.”

Welsh reggae and metal group Skindred also performed at last year’s demo event and are seasoned Download performers with multiple years under their belt. Frontman Benji Webbe has also provided the following statement concerning the group’s inclusion in this year’s lineup, “Playing the Download pilot after being locked down for a year and a half was an amazing experience so being invited back to our favourite festival and spiritual home to play alongside the likes of KISS and Maiden is a dream come true. Plus we have some amazing rockin’ new tunes which we cannot wait for you all to hear.”

Last September the festival announced that the 2022 lineup would include A Day To Remember, Mastodon, Shinedown, Code Orange, Black Veil Brides, Ice Nine Kills and Creeper. The Southampton formed group also performed at last year’s pilot festival, which served as a test event to gauge the effect of COVID-19 within large crowds.  Managing director of Festival Republic, UK promoter for Download Melvin Benn gave the following statement concerning the three-day event. “The pilot went extraordinarily well. Not a single person arrived on site with a positive Covid test. Everyone was incredibly compliant and were reassured that the people they were moshing with were Covid-clear.”

After the event had concluded, reports and investigations were held to examine if the pilot had been successful. The festival was part of the second phase of tests conducted by the Government’s Event Research Programme, the initiative aims to investigate and report the risks associated with event attendance during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

This year’s upcoming event will mark the festival’s return to its traditional format. The Summer festival’s star-studded roster will perform across four stages; Main Stage, Second Stage, The Dogtooth Stage and The Avalanche Stage hosted by Download’s long-term partner Kerrang! Radio. Tickets are available to purchase for both Camping and No Camping, music fans are also able to purchase RIP options which include hotel and special camping choices.

Click here to purchase tickets.

“Seize the Power” released in January was Yonaka’s first “new music from the band since their widely praised debut record Don’t Wait ‘Till Tomorrow from 2019 and its re-imagined follow-up Stripped Back from last May 2020“. At that time they commented: “We are so excited for the world to hear Seize The Power. It’s been so long since we released new music and the time has finally come; this is a new chapter for us. We want you to get lost in a feeling of strength and empowerment when listening to this song”. 

The new mixtape, out on 15th July features the titled track and also other recent singles: “Call Me A Saint“, “Ordinary” and new track “Raise Your Glass” which you can watch below.

Yonaka’s vocalist Theresa Jarvis said about the mixtape: “‘Seize The Power’ is a collection of songs to empower you. We all possess the power within but through life we are always put down by others, told to be quiet and not express ourselves; this makes us less confident and we lose ourselves“. 

“I wanted to take back control and yes, I’m not in control all the time but when I’m there I’’m untouchable. This is a wake up call. Anyone can be anything they put their mind to. Be who you want! Everything up until now has lead to this moment so take the moment and make it yours and enjoy it” – Jarvis added.

The band performed at last weekend Download pilot Festival alongside artists like Bullet For My Valentine or Frank Carter. They shared the excitement online saying: “OMG we played a festival yday!! that felt so good thank you @DownloadFest aghhhh to see that crowd of beautiful faces again was a dreammmm”. 

OMG we played a festival yday!! that felt so good thank you @DownloadFest aghhhh to see that crowd of beautiful faces again was a dreammmm

redmen1 pic.twitter.com/dMor4UY6l2

— YONAKA (@weareYONAKA) June 20, 2021

Reinvigorated, YONAKA seem ready and excited to embark on a “new chapter” and keep the momentum and attitude going forward. ‘Seize The Power‘ is out now on all streaming platforms via Creature Records, and the band said: “We are so excited for the world to hear Seize The Power. It’s been so long since we released new music and the time has finally come; this is a new chapter for us. We want you to get lost in a feeling of strength and empowerment when listening to this song.”

SEIZE THE POWER out at midnight!! We are so excited to share this new chapter with you This is for Us!ALSO..Tomorrow we’ll be premiering the official video! We’ll be going live at 7.30PM GMT so come have a chat with us

Pre-Save/Premiere here: https://t.co/5rjex4XgPh pic.twitter.com/zZP9akeJAM

— YONAKA (@weareYONAKA) January 26, 2021

‘Seize the Power‘ revolves around dramatic build-ups fuelled by singer  Theresa Jarvis’ rebellious rants, split with atmospheric vocal-centered transitions and deep EDM-influenced bass lines. Fresh and somewhat unusual for YONAKA’s establishes style, the single maintains the band’s intensity, punk attitude and rock sensibility, intertwined within a catchy contemporary banger. The track is written and entirely self-produced at their home studio in Brighton by the band consisting of Theresa Jarvis (vocals), Alex Crosby (bass), George Werbrouck-Edwards (guitar) and Rob Mason (drums).

Earlier today YONAKA scheduled an exclusive live chat with fans tuning in from 7:30 pm followed by the official video at 8 pm that is gradually building up views with 2,500 and counting at the time of publishing. Focused on Jarvis kept in a futuristic glass prison cell, the dystopian video is directed by Jade Ang Jackman from Black Dog Films – the company responsible for recent viral projects such as Run The Jewels’ ‘Walking In The Snow‘ and Burna Boy’s ‘Real Life‘ (ft. Stormzy). Production credit for the effective visualization go to Lauren Mills and Martin Roker.

In case you have been sleeping on the Brighton quartet’s productive years, YONAKA formed back in 2014 with three initial EPs Heavy (2017), Teach Me To Fight (2018) and Creature (2018), and to establish them as an exciting rising act aiming to storm UK’s modern rock scene. Building up on a memorable tour with Bring Me The Horizon and Fever 333, the alternative rock outfit premiered their debut Don’t Wait ‘Till Tomorrow in May 2019 via Asylum Records, landing them an instant #38 spot at the UK Official Albums Charts.

Most recently, YONAKA appeared on the second edition of the virtual Five4Five festival in support of the Save Our Venues campaign alongside Holding Absense, Vukovi, Hacktibist, Nova Twins, and many others. If somehow government restrictions are lifted soon and live events return to normal, the band are going to perform few gigs in April and May, with tickets available and information available here. 

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Symbolic tickets were available as donations to the campaign, alongside raffle tickets for exclusive prizes offered by the participating bands. Although the festival itself was free and it is available online, everyone can still head up to their official website and donate to the noble cause and enter the prize draw until 28 December. The organisers have shared the following statement found on the About section of the website:

“The past, present and future of the UK music industry relies on grassroots, independent music venues. We at Five4Five can’t stand by and watch as our venues are left to weather the Covid-19 crisis on their own. We’re proud to partner up with the Music Venue Trust to help ensure they can reopen safely, so we can go back to the loud and sweaty spaces where it all begins. In the meantime, we’ve gathered some of the finest acts to enjoy from the comfort of your own sofa. We hope you enjoy and donate if you can.”

If everyone watching across all platforms donated £5 at https://t.co/3b3Fx5Ik9c right now we would instantly raise £2,500 to help grassroots music venues from closing forever. Please give if you can, stay safe, chins up #545Fest

— five4fivefest (@five4fivefest) December 19, 2020

The first edition of the virtual festival took place earlier this year, in the midst of the first nation-wide lockdown. Enter Shikari and Don Broco acted as the symbolic headliners of the inaugural event over 15 and 16 May, delivering special sets recorded from home. Similarly, the first shows encauraged donation and raffle tickets in support to the NHS Charities Together and managed to raise over £50,000.

The second Five4Five fest selected Brighton rockers Yonaka and Welsh outfit Holding Absence as symbolic headliners across the two days. The Friday show saw official support from The Dangerous Summer, Vukovi, Lizzy Farrall, Delaire The Liar, Rob Lynch, Holiday Oscar, Snake Eyes, Weatherstate, Tally Spear and Paper Mill, with aftershow by Zoe London. The Saturday evening performances included Normandie, GCWCF, Hacktivist, Nova Twins, Chapter And Verse, As Everything Unfolds, The Rhythm Method, Stay Free, Anavae, Haggard Cat, followed by DJ set by Tasmin Taylor.

 

 

 

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A wide range of exciting one-of-a-kind prizes are still available with raffle tickets starting from £5 and available until the random draw on 28 December. Most participating bands have offered exclusive items and bundles including a special merch pack from Holding Absence, sweatshirt and poster from Yonaka, Normandie’s ‘White Flag‘ jacket, an EP by Hacktivist, and many more. In addition, there are also limited prizes by previous headliners Enter Shikari (signed drumskin) and Don Broco (the last ever Rob Bot action figure), as well as a lucky dip for Architects’ merch and a shoes bundle by official partner Vans.

As confirmed in the Terms & Conditions: “Please note, when purchasing a raffle item, you are paying £5.00 to enter with the chance of winning the item. Think of it as your entry fee to the festival, and you might go home with an exclusive prize!“. All donations and purchased raffle tickets “will go directly into helping grassroots venues stay open.”

Goes without saying that gigs couldn’t possibly come sooner. Hope you have enjoyed the next best thing this weekend.#545Fest

— five4fivefest (@five4fivefest) December 19, 2020