In the magazine December 2018 / January 2019

With Sports Team, Amyl and the Sniffers, Whenyoung & more

It’s that time of the year again, dear readers! Just before we wind down and start tucking into more Yorkshire Puddings and mulled wine than you can shake a tipsy stick at, it’s time to take a look forward to 2019.

Every December, we introduce the acts that we truly believe are set for massive things the following year. With alumni including Wolf Alice, George Ezra, Royal Blood and more, we’d say we’re pretty good at this sort of thing, and so without further ado, get ready to meet the Class Of 2019!

The Class Of 2019 issue of DIY is out this Friday (7th December), and is fronted by three of the most exciting bands around - Sports Team, Amyl and the Sniffers and Whenyoung!

“It feels like an identity thing, coming to see Sports Team, which I don’t think a lot of bands have,” the band’s Alex Rice tells us of the community the band are quickly fostering, as they become one of the most promising guitar bands in the country, bringing a bravado and gang mentality back to the genre that we haven’t seen for a good while.

Amyl and the Sniffers, meanwhile, are just mainly here to have fun. “I seek out the weirdos,” singer Amy Taylor tells us. “I think I put it out to the world that I wanna hang out with weirdos and I end up finding the craziest people ever. I’ll probably end up getting killed, but it’s kind of funny I guess. I’ll have to finish the record so I have a legacy…”

They’re joined on the cover by Whenyoung, who aim for catharsis with their sweetly-sung but lyrically dark indie-pop. “People often put the best face forward and cover up their emotions, but the whole thing of making music is about that cathartic process,” vocalist Aoife Power tells us. “It’s about the healing process and trying to reach out to people to connect. That’s what we wanna do with our lyrics because that’s what we seek in other peoples’, that connection. I was watching an interview with Bjork and she said she only writes songs when she’s happy, whereas if I’m happy then i’ll probably just go to the pub…”

Roping our entire Class Of (which will be announced across this week) into joining us in all manner of sport-related tomfoolery, the new issue will be out on 7th December - the same day we bring Sports Team, Anteros and Lady Bird to London’s House Of Vans to launch the whole thing (grab free tickets for that one here) - and is available to pre-order below.