Rachel Roberts - Journalist

About Me

I'm a 25-year-old freelance journalist (currently working shifts across Guitar.com and Music Tech) and former West Midlands Newsletter Lead for Reach. I'm a multi-media journalist, able to produce design and illustrative work as well as podcasts, videos and quality written work to tight deadlines. 

I specialise in writing features on music, culture, entertainment and societal issues. My work is always produced with diligence and enthusiasm, and I have a knack for being creatively bold. If you'd like to work with me then please don't hesitate to get in touch...

Contact me

My Latest Work

Kerrang! •

Album review: YUNGBLUD – Idols

When YUNGBLUD announced that he’d be making a double album, it was pretty easy to envision it being something completely loud, unruly, and bold. Idols is his fourth studio album after all, and we know what Dom Harrison is all about by now. Or so we thought. Opening with a nine-minute rock odyssey is certainly one way to say, “I am not fucking about”, and as he describes it himself, Idols is a “love letter to life; in all it’s fucking madness". It certainly shows.
His most ambitious release to d...
Kerrang! •

Interviews with Teen Mortgage and PVRIS in Kerrang! summer issue

This summer’s mega Download features not one, not two, but three first-time headliners: there’s the unbelievable ascent of Sleep Token, nu-metal kings Korn getting their moment, and of course, festival and stadium-conquering legends Green Day.
Ahead of their massive return to the UK, we catch up with frontman Billie Joe Armstrong about the past 18 months on their phenomenal Saviors era, as well as recent achievements like ruling Coachella and getting their Walk Of Fame star. And it’s safe to say...
Kerrang! •

“The bigger your heart is, it’s a superpower”: How De’Wayne took the…

june heavily explores the ‘divine feminine’. What does it mean to you?“I hope that I have the right vocabulary to speak on it being a man, but I’ve been inspired by all of the women that have come into my life. I was raised by women – my grandmothers, my aunties, my mom. I feel like we come from the woman spirit. That’s why, especially as a man, we’re doing everything to get back to them – if it’s being talented or cute, or trying to have a nice car or a nice home. I think the divine feminine pe...
Kerrang! •

Hot Milk: “Why shouldn’t we make England the home of music again?”

In England, the solution to a chaotic day tends to be the pub. And so it is for Hot Milk’s dual vocalists and guitarists Han Mee and Jim Shaw, who are currently running three hours behind schedule for their gig in Brighton this evening, marking the end of a series of intimate shows.
Of course, it's not a Hot Milk tour unless something goes wrong, and today they're dealing with all the fun and games of a tyre blow-out, and having to unload all of their gear at the roadside for it to be repaired i...
Guitar.com | All Things Guitar •

McFly’s Dougie Poynter on why the bass is “an unsung hero” and his obsession with the Fender Meteora

“I’ve got friends who are like, ‘which part are you playing in that song? I can’t hear it…’ I’m the thing that’s making the seat rumble!” Explains an exasperated Dougie Poynter. The McFly bassist is very loyal to his instrument. Over 20 years have passed since he joined the band, and it’s a marriage that remains sweeter than ever. His only wish? That others would celebrate and love the humble bass guitar as much as he does.McFly – completed by vocalists/guitarists Tom Fletcher and Danny Jones, p...
Guitar.com | All Things Guitar •

Lamb Of God’s Mark Morton picks his favourite non-metal guitar players

“This record, more than anything I’ve done, reflects the kind of music that I’m a fan of in my personal time, and the kind of stuff I spend time listening to,” says Mark Morton. The Lamb Of God guitarist is talking about his new solo album, Without The Pain, a project which leans into his southern rock roots.The album comes after Morton launched his memoir, Desolation, last year. With such a personal account of navigating addiction, mental health, and his heavy metal career within its pages, piv...
Kerrang! •

On-the-road feature with Neck Deep - Kerrang! spring edition

Whether you picked up a surprise physical copy last week or are waiting for its March 21 streaming date, A Day To Remember’s Big Ole Album Vol. 1 is already one of the best things about 2025. And, ahead of Jeremy McKinnon and co. crossing the pond to finally top the bill at Slam Dunk Festival and share it live in all its glory, the frontman takes us inside the band’s mind-blowing return – from getting heavy again, going deep with his lyrics, and becoming certified elder statesmen of the scene.
E...
Kerrang! •

“We’ve been fortunate to have so many hurdles… it allows us to have a…

Completed by guitarist Dan Fuson and bassist/producer Austin Luther, Winona Fighter experiment with all the exuberant colours of punk on this project. Marking their first full-length release through Rise Records, they’ve also stayed true to the genre’s DIY roots by pulling the whole thing together themselves.
“We didn’t put anything on the record that we can’t achieve live,” Coco says. “We’re lucky to have been able to keep it so in-house. It was just me, Austin and Dan – we were the only ones w...
Kerrang! •

Lambrini Girls: “It’s time for the genre of ‘women in music’ to be…

“Blind delusional ambition” was the secret to Lambrini Girls getting their band off the ground. As good a tactic as any, but they certainly wouldn't have been catapulted quite this far if it wasn't for the passion and persistence that underlies everything they do and stand for.
The Brighton-based duo, Phoebe Lunny and Lilly Macieira, have been running rings around the UK punk scene over the past three years. They’ve played countless riotous shows and fests, most recently bringing the chaos to Al...
Guitar.com | All Things Guitar •

Sophie Lloyd on her blossoming solo career, and neurodivergence in music

“The thing is, I have always seen myself as a solo artist,” shares Sophie Lloyd. It was a year ago that we last spoke to the shredder, when her debut album Imposter Syndrome had just landed. Though sitting before us with the same cheerful glimmer, something’s changed.Lloyd has always had a strong sense of self, right from her tone and playing style, all the way to her purple branding that has become so synonymous with the 29-year old Londoner, she pretty much warrants her own Pantone shade. That...
Guitar.com | All Things Guitar •

Lindsay Ell on the guitar renaissance, touring with Shania Twain, and her comforting new EP

“I think I was putting all of my priority on the things that I would achieve, compared to being like, ‘all right, I love myself as I am, as I show up in this world,’” says Lindsay Ell, her lilac hair illuminated against the dark walls of her studio. The past five years have been tough for the country-pop creative, and that’s just scratching the surface.Among busy work schedules and personal battles, Ell realised she wasn’t being kind to herself. In 2023, she was diagnosed with an eating disorder...
Kerrang! •

Live review: Bambie Thug, Dublin The Academy

“Happy Halloween,” Bambie Thug swoons into the mic. Scantily clad but painted as a ouija board, they swagger across the stage in their platform shoes. A fully packed-out Academy in central Dublin is bewitched.
Shows at this time of the year were made for Bambie – the extravagance, the dark magic of it all. In fact, it feels as though this should be a yearly tradition. This isn’t their first Halloween gig rodeo, though, having conquered London for their Samhain celebration in 2023, but on Irish s...
Kerrang! •

Lambrini Girls: “This is exactly what was meant to come out. This is…

Lambrini Girls went old-school rock’n’roll for the making of their debut album. Not musically, but energetically. With very little time and plenty of alcohol, the Brighton duo managed to whizz through its recording. After all, where Lambrini is in the name, there’s inevitably a few bevs in the game.
“I think there was a manic surrender where we were like, ‘Right, studio’s booked. We’ve got to have something by the time we go in there, so we’re going to write some songs and they’re going to be wh...
Kerrang! •

YUNGBLUD: “The way rock survives, thrives, prospers and gets bigger…

Fookin’ hell, it’s actually happening. Bludfest, the inaugural one-day music festival created by YUNGBLUD, has taken over the enormous Milton Keynes Bowl. The venue that has hosted the likes of Bon Jovi, David Bowie, Metallica, Black Sabbath, Muse and Green Day is once again the home of the historical.
“Rock is different. It’s got a new energy to it, whether people like it or not,” the man behind it all, YUNGBLUD, tells Kerrang! backstage. “The way it survives, thrives, prospers and gets bigger...
Guitar.com | All Things Guitar •

Heriot on doing heavy their own way: “This is a fresh take on the genre that we all love”

It’s hard to think of another metal band that’s created as much excitement in the last 10 years as Heriot. Here’s an example of the British band’s turbo trajectory – they’ve just released their debut album, Devoured By The Mouth Of Hell, but they still managed to sneak into a fair few Album Of The Year lists back in 2022 without even having an album. Such was the impact of EP Profound Morality, people were making exceptions – and look, we get it.You might assume such a rapid rise could inflate t...
Kerrang! •

Sløtface: “There’s so many things that are sh*tty. Being happy and…

“I was an OG Twilight stan when I was in ninth grade,” confesses Haley Shea, decorated with a nostalgic smile. “That is perfectly fine for me to say now, but if anybody had asked me about that in an interview 10 years ago, I would have been so embarrassed…”
Time is the healer of all wounds, so they say, and the same can be said of the judgments we once placed on ourselves for liking things that weren’t deemed ‘cool’. This is what Haley has come to realise across her lifetime, and particularly on...
Kerrang! •

Feature on Bludfest in the Autumn 2024 print edition of Kerrang!

Next month – on Devil's Night, no less – Black Veil Brides will play their biggest-ever UK show at Wembley Arena. The payoff for nearly two decades of blood, sweat and tears, Andy Biersack and his brothers have been fighting for this since day one.
In this exclusive interview with Kerrang!, the BVB frontman looks back on the internal and external struggles he's faced along the way, the importance of the UK in their journey, the challenges of getting sober and where the band plan on going next.....
Kerrang! •

Trash Boat Cover Story: “I want to write a song that changes the world. I want to…

“So, what are we going to talk about?” Tobi Duncan asks eagerly. He crouches on a small staircase next to the dressing room of an East London photo studio, where Trash Boat are currently in the middle of their Kerrang! cover shoot. Guitarists Ryan Hyslop and Dann Bostock, bassist James Grayson, and drummer Oakley Moffatt are bustling around the space, teasing each other on their go-to poses. Slow-motion showers of feathers drift over them, a box of which Tobi has already requested to take home f...
Kerrang! •

From a sunburnt blink-182 to Brian Molko’s angel wings: Scarlet Page…

“I’ve been really lucky to make this my career,” smiles Scarlet Page. At her aptly-titled 30 exhibition launching in London on September 12, the iconic music photographer is celebrating three decades behind the lens. And while those 30 years have been a lot of fun, they've also been hard work.
From trudging around muddy festivals with heavy gear, to flying around the world for long, challenging shoots, Scarlet has immortalised some of our most beloved musicians – from Dave Grohl and Slash, to Co...
Kerrang! •

“Their songs helped me not only understand those feelings, but get…

“I feel so lucky that I’ve grown up with them. When a Linkin Park song comes on, I’m yelling every single word. They’re that kind of band,” says As December Falls vocalist Bethany Hunter, in her signature knife-sharp eyeliner, clustered backstage with K! at Birmingham’s Utilita Arena for one of the most unique fundraising events to ever hit Brum.
Dubbed 1000 Lights, 1,000 musicians are set to play through Linkin Park’s Numb and In The End in the 16,000-person arena, all while raising money for t...
The Forty-Five •

Delilah Bon: “Even if just two people in the crowd need to hear those lyrics, it’s so worth it”

Brat-punk creative Delilah Bon knows that fear is futile. Just as spritely as it is vicious, her second album ‘Evil, Hate Filled Female’ is set to light a fire under your feet, for protest and for party.Delilah Bon is the Elle Woods of rock. Tired of having her musical visions squashed by producers, she took control of the reins and taught herself how to create her own tracks entirely. What comes out of her creative process is brat-punk – a rage-fuelled musical beast of its own kind that melds t...
Guitar.com | All Things Guitar •

Soft Play’s Laurie Vincent: “I used to be really interested in doing solos, but it didn’t give me much joy”

“My main focus as a guitar player is writing something as strong as a melody,” Soft Play’s Laurie Vincent explains. Chatting to Guitar.com on an August evening from a leopard print-covered couch, the sun casts a golden stripe across his face. “Things that really inspire me are the Love Will Tear Us Apart bassline by Joy Division, or Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes.”Despite having just run around in Dad Mode settling his three children down for the night, he’s laid back and effortlessly co...
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