When Mia Berrin first began performing as Pom Pom Squad around 2017, audience members would approach her after shows and admit that they’d been surprised by how much they’d enjoyed themselves. “More than once, someone came up to me and was like, ‘I expected to hate you,’” she says, laughing …
Read More »
When Gareth Kelly used to DJ around Bradford, England, in the mid-2010s, he noticed something about his hometown. “It’s the land that time forgot,” he says, with affection and resignation. “Everyone else is up to date, and we’re still spinning a record that’s 25 years old. Certain tunes, like Robin …
Read More »
“Happen to Me,” the first song on Benee’s debut album, Hey u x, kicks off with a line about her fear of dying in a freak accident. It’s a song about anxiety and dread, inspired by her reoccurring thoughts of airplanes crashing, raging fires, getting kidnapped, and just being alone. …
Read More »
Alana Chenevert never really liked her given name. So around 2010, she started calling herself “Dodgr,” in tribute to Oliver Twist and her hometown L.A. baseball team. “I decided I was just gonna go for it,” she says, calling from Portland, Oregon, where she’s staying with her girlfriend. The year …
Read More »
When Marcus King was 15, he talked his way into the Asheville, North Carolina, club the Orange Peel to slip a demo to Allman Brothers guitarist Warren Haynes — and nearly got himself arrested. “I snuck in with the caterers,” says King. “Now the owner and I are good friends, …
Read More »