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You’ll never meet more of an awkward babe than Aubrey Plaza. The thinking man’s pin up has featured in hit indie flicks such as Safety Not Guaranteed, The To Do List and Scott Pilgrim Versus the World and we’ve fallen hard. Her dean-pan cool is infectious and has set tongues wagging across the world so who better to play smoldering girlfriend back-from-the-dead in Life After Beth. Written and directed by Plaza’s boyfriend Jeff Baena, the zombie-com features lady of the moment Anna Kendrick and John C. Reilly. Given the cast of his dreams, Director Jeff Baena felt as though he had pulled off the ultimate heist, “It felt like I was legitimately pulling off a scam,” he laughs.

Plaza’s stage presence is electric and the audience hangs on her every word. Her quick-witted quips prove she’s very much the driving force behind her characters. “If anyone wants me I’m going to be across the street burning my iPhone and that’s an open invitation so that we can just live in reality and interact as humans and not as zombies,” says Aubrey. Not one to shy away from the dark side Plaza took to the role a little too easily. “Honestly I feel like there’ve been many times in my life when I’ve been drawn to demonic forces,” she admits. “It’s easier for me to play a zombie rather than a human”. Nevertheless stage five was ample for Plaza on the zombie scale. “I had blood all over me and dirt, it was pretty messed up but to answer your question I was not like “Give it to me more!” she laughs. Agreeably, Plaza was ready to suffer for her art, which resulted in a serious injury whilst working with kitchen appliances, as she explains: “It was really fun to have an oven strapped to my back and, the first time I ripped my abdominal wall”. Impressive.

Lead by Hell raiser Aubrey Plaza, Life After Beth is a metaphorical approach to exploring relationships and how a person can change right in front of your eyes. Baena’s intention, objective fulfilled.

Life After Beth premiered at Cannes Film Festival this year is released in the UK on October 3^rd

Words: Elinor Sigman

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After two number one singles, four albums and seven top 10 hits, Tinchy Stryder has proven that he will not be boxed in by expectations.

His new single ‘Misunderstood,’ the first in two years, is packed with the sort of stuff that all good grime and hip-hop is made of. He’s been through a period of transition recently but he’s now back in harness and is preparing to follow-up 2010’s Third Strike—in the same general fashion, like his previous efforts. And as a result, expectations are high for 360°.

We caught up with Tinchy, who—told us about his faith in God, working with Wiley and Dizzee Rascal, making ‘Misunderstood,’ and hanging out with Rihanna.

I thought it would be good to start with a few ice breaker questions…What’s one thing no one in this room knows about you?

I don’t know what you know or don’t know, I think you might have to ask me something that you want to know.

Are you religious?

Yeah, I’m a Christian. I believe in God — every time before I go to sleep and when I wake up I pray. Every time before I fly and when I land I pray. I really believe in God. One thing I learned growing up is you cannot say please without saying thank you. I’m not in church every week but I don’t think that proves whether or not someone is more religious than you.

If you could ask God a question, what would you ask?

Sometimes I always ask myself, “Why me? Why am I here?” As I’ve grown I’ve come to understand that everybody is special. I say that, but not everyone is chosen. I always wonder why this person was chosen to do this particular thing and why this other person wasn’t. I’m sure you know someone who can spit or write lyrics really, really well. For example, I know people who are sick at playing football but that doesn’t guarantee that they will make it to where they are trying to get to. Because I’m a believer I think having the opportunity to ask something like that would be difficult, you wouldn’t do it because you don’t want to be questioning God. I think God is a friend who you can speak to daily.

I think if I could ask God anything: I probably would want to know what he looks like.

He’d probably be like, “Look at me.” We’ve been brought up to believe a certain image of what he looks like and whatever religion you follow you must have some sort of picture in your mind. But, I guess, we’ve all got a voice in our heads of what he sounds like. I mean when you’re speaking to God, you’re not thinking of hearing some high-pitched guy talking back to you.

Well, I’m convinced God’s voice sounds something like Morgan Freeman’s.

[Laughs] We don’t know but I really hope he’s not some high-pitched guy shouting like, “Yo, yo!”

Let’s talk about your background for a second. Do you think that wanting to be a musician with such a strong academic backdrop like yours was a kind of rebellion for you?

I was alright in school but I would never say that I was a bad guy or anything. I was more the cheeky one. I could control my temper. I was always chilled and out of my friends I was the one who would give the answers that the teacher never wanted to hear. I would sometimes get detention but I would always do my work. Music for me and my family was a hobby, we enjoyed doing it. My older brother is a DJ and I remember when me, Dizzee [Rascal] and Ruff Squad would get together in my little room that I shared with my brother and record music. Now when I look back my mom didn’t have to allow that, she could’ve said, “You’re making too much noise. Go and read your books.” But she didn’t and she allowed us to do what we were doing and eventually it got to the stage when the music popped off. It became part of my life.

You’ve been making music now for nearly 15 years. If you could go back in time, what advice would you give your 13-year-old self?

I would tell him, “Focus and have patience.” At that young age, I was always in a rush, like, “I want them trainers. I want them now.” I never thought about what I was going to do to get the money to get those trainers. My parents didn’t have the money and where I’m from people did what they had to do street-wise to earn a living. It can be hard but I’ve come to understood that being patient is important. You just have to learn how to relax.

Can you tell how a song’s going to do while you’re making it? I don’t just mean commercially — are you surprised which tracks people gravitate towards, and which ones they don’t like?

Sometimes when you’re making a song you feel like there’s levels to that shit and when you’re done, you’re like, “Wow, something feels special about this.” When I made my first number one, which was ‘Number 1’ with Dappy, it took us half an hour. The scary thing is that it wasn’t called ‘Number 1’ because I thought it would go to number one. Obviously, if it had went to number two the joke would’ve been on me. The first time I performed it I felt like everyone knew all the words to it, but I could never have predicted that I was going to do a song and that it would sell more than 600,000 copies.

I know it’s probably a difficult question, but I’m going to ask it anyway because you’ve actually created a few of them: What makes a great song?

The elements of a great song has to have something that people can relate to, it has to grab people’s attention in the first minute. The concept has to be right, the filter has to be right, it has to feel like it’s pure and it’s coming from somewhere. We recorded ‘Number 1’ in 2008 and it came out in 2009, and even when I perform the song now it still fells fresh. I think good music is timeless. For example, Michael Jackson, you can hear one of his songs now and you’ll get the same feeling you had when you first heard it. I met someone who got a tattoo of one of my lyrics and she said to me, “This is my life.” I was just sat in my little room penning down my thoughts and what I was going through. I think in general good music is hard to define, it’s a worldwide language.

People keep talking about ‘Misunderstood’ as a return to your roots. Do you feel that way?

I always say, “Sounding like the old me, looking like a new me.” I think it’s the voice or something about my delivery that reminds people of the old me. I guess the space that I’m in right now reminds people of that hunger which is back with more knowledge.

On ‘Misunderstood’ there’s the line, “Uh, see I could’ve been a baller, hat-trick a game, football could’ve been my lane.” Do you ever have any regrets about not pursing your footballing career?

“Tick-tock baller, music change, far from the size of my name.” I have no regrets [laughs.]

You could still be the first professional football-rapper. Does the idea hold any appeal to you? 

I think you have to make it at a certain age. At my age some players are now getting ready to retire, like Renaldo. He’s 29 and he’s peaking, so when would I start to peak?

I think 2010 was a huge year for you, especially when Rihanna asked you to support her on tour. Are you still in touch with her? 

Me and RiRi are good. She’s a really cool person. I won’t lie and say we’re in touch constantly, but I saw her the other day at Drake’s show and we hugged. It’s all good.

What do you hope people take away from your upcoming album, 360°?

I hope people will listen to it and understand what I’ve been through. It’s a bit like a theme album where you get to know more about me — not many people get to make four albums.

‘Misunderstood’ is out now.

Words: Noel Phillips.

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It’s been a lengthy three years since  Catherine and Allison Pierce released their last full-length record ‘You & I’.

This Spring sees the Alabama sisters return to triumphant form with their brand new offering ‘Creation’ which has already seen approval from Coldplay’s Chris Martin and bassist Guy Berryman, who discovered the band and invited them to play alongside them on tour in 2011.

After a brief stint living in London’s East End, the siblings now reside in sunny California which might be partly to blame for the inspiration behind their ‘Euphoric pop’ sound which can be heard on new single ‘Believe In Me’.

We spent the afternoon with the pair and a whole bunch of taxidermy at The Kings Head private members club on their old stomping ground in the East End of the capital.

The Pierces make their live return to the UK this coming June.

They play:

11 – KOKO, LONDON

12 – Club Academy, MANCHESTER

14 – Oran Mor, GLASGOW

Tickets go on general sale this Friday 4th April. http://thepierces.seetickets.com/

Film & Photography by: Rosie Powell

Words: Shane Hawkins

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It’s been a fairly quiet 12 months for the leader of the ‘back-pack gang’. The Birmingham-born MC’s rapid, quick-fire delivery has seemed rather distant since her last track ‘Power‘ dropped in 2013. She cites personal growth, enrolment in education and adulthood as justifiable reasons as to why she decided to take time out to hone her craft. We foresee that 2014 is in for a triple-x rating

We spent the day with her to find out more.

What have you been up too since we last heard from you?

I’ve really grown up. Last year I lost my Nan, turned 24 and i’m single. For the first time I feel like the adult I am. I started University this year and i’ve also started dreading my hair.

What are the main priorities this year?

This year I want to build my foundations, let people know my story and understand me that little bit more. I really want to connect with people. I don’t want to just rap and pretend my life is the best. I represent people with a dream surviving the struggle.

When can we hear some new sounds?

I’ve been writing a lot to covers recently, which i’m recording at the moment to get me back into the swing of things. I plan on giving that away at the end of the month. Songwriting for me is really like therapy. What I write about is very honest and I know that people will relate to that.

Will there be any new collaborations happening?

I’m really not too sure. I’m a big fan of DVS and i’ve been listening to his mix-tape constantly. Production-wise  Screama, Mikey J and  SmurfieSyco are talking about recording some stuff with me. I’m really excited about it.

Who would you love to work on a track with? Dream collaboration!

My dream collaboration would be with Lauryn Hill and Nipsey Hussle. My ultimate collaboration would be with Bob Marley.

Tell us a bit more about this shoot. Would you say you’re fashion conscious?

I’m a big fan of Kuccia! I love prints and patterns. I’m fashion conscious without realising it. My mum was a young, trendy mum but i’d never admit it to her.  She taught me everything I know about fashion. My style is clean and I hate following trends.

Will the back-pack still be visible alongside the new music?

Definitely! They are a way of life to me, without sounding crazy. I think they represent me well and can be more practical than handbags that weigh down one arm at a time.

Who do you admire, style-wise?

I admire Pharrell Williams. He’s  stylish as hell but very clean. I like A$ap Rocky, Missy Elliott and old-skool Salt & Pepa.

How important do you think that image is to an artists longevity in the ‘industry’?

I think image is important but change is good as it shows growth. Forced image is embarrassing. I think some artists feel so much pressure to have an identity that they forget they are an artist. When you’re a Musician, everything must start and end with the music.

Any favourite labels / Designers that you love to wear?

I love Givenchy Moschino, Vivienne Westwood and KTZ, but I do love a pair of old-skool Vans and a checked backpack.

What kind of music are you listening to at the moment? 

I’m listening to Isaiah Rashad, Styles P, Beyonce and Mumford & Sons. A pretty diverse bag. I also like to listen to my own stuff just because i’m a perfectionist and I think it helps me become a better artist.

Who are you championing for 2014?

Screama who’s a really good friend of mine from Birmingham. His beats are amazing and I can’t wait for the world to hear them. I’m also a fan of  Krept and Konan who won Best Newcomer at the MOBO’s last year. I think they can really help Urban music in the UK as I don’t think anyone is really doing anything amazing at the moment.

Words: Shane Hawkins

Photographer: Vic Lentaigne

Stylist: Amber Upton

Videographer: Like My Flex

Hair & Make-up: Lucybloom Webb

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