Rachel Roberts - Journalist

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My Work

Featured Articles

Explore a featured selection of my writing work below. To take a look at my news stories (rather than features) across Guitar.com and MusicTech please see the news writing tabs on the side bar.

Kerrang! •

Pinkshift: “Love is rage, because when you love something, you fight…

“Our frontal lobes have developed!” chuckles Pinkshift vocalist and guitarist Ashrita Kumar, as they look back on all that has changed between the band’s 2022 shiny debut, Love Me Forever, and their brand-new beast, Earthkeeper.
Ashrita, fellow guitarist Paul Vallejo, and drummer Myron Houngbedji were the plucky new kids on the block when Love Me Forever dropped; it was a firecracker of a record that felt wound up and tense, sparkling with pop-punk energy as it tore into the anxieties of trying...
Kerrang! •

Album review: Nova Twins – Parasites & Butterflies

Life has felt starkly contrasted for Nova Twins of late. Both within the band and their lives around it, there have been soaring highs, and challenging lows. While 2020’s Who Are The Girls? debut was an introduction to the two and 2022’s Supernova was a celebration of their power, Parasites & Butterflies is a pause for reflection that looks at the juggle of success and pressure.
The skill and musical innovation of Nova Twins is outstanding, and arguably not discussed enough. On their third stud...
Kerrang! •

Hevenshe: “My fans are my team. They are my investors and my…

“There is a real collective exhale at a Hevenshe show,” says Jenna McDougall, creative force behind the ‘life-affirming femme rock’ project and Tonight Alive vocalist, as she cradles a restless pooch in her lap.
“I’m just starting to properly gauge what my audience feels like to me and what we’re sharing at my shows compared to Tonight Alive,” she adds. “There are a lot of similar people, so it doesn’t differ hugely except there’s no moshing or screaming for your life!”
Off the back of a headlin...
Guitar.com | All Things Guitar •

Here’s how to build your own version of Noel Gallagher’s touring pedalboard – without rock star money

Earlier this July, Noel Gallagher presented possibly the greatest gift to any Oasis gear-obsessive: a complete photograph of his entire pedalboard for the band’s Live ‘25 reunion shows, and even a shot of his amp set up too.The band are currently amid the first leg of the global tour, which kicked off in Cardiff on 4 July and marked their first live performance together since their infamous split in 2009. With both Gallagher brothers in good spirits and bucket hats back in fashion, now is the pe...
Kerrang! •

“We knew we were going to have to do this the risky way”: The…

“There’s a saying in Spanish that my mom always tells me: ‘You haven’t swum the whole ocean to die at the shore,’” begins Calva Louise vocalist, guitarist and keyboardist Jess Allanic. She’s nestled on a couch alongside bassist Alizon Taho and drummer Ben Parker, the three of them positioned among a jungle of cables as preparation for their next run of live shows is underway.
The trio are in cheery spirits because, after all, this is what they dreamed of, and making their way to it was at many t...
Kerrang! •

PVRIS: “Art makes people happy, and it’s a connecting tool, and it…

When the 10th anniversary of PVRIS’ White Noise came around in November last year, Lyndsey Gunnulfsen was met with feelings of discomfort. The debut album for the band – these days solely led by Lyndsey, though she had been its prime creative force since day dot – holds up as one of the most treasured alternative records of the 2010s. And yet, there was something about revisiting it that did not feel good to its creator.
“I kept feeling this kind of resistance. Initially, I chalked it up to want...
Kerrang! •

The big review: Glastonbury 2025

Well, we certainly got our steps in at Glastonbury this year, navigating the country's largest festival in the glorious sunshine to find the latest and greatest to grace the Somerset weekender – from Weezer to Biffy Clyro, and Turnstile to Amyl And The Sniffers, it's a veritable parade of K! favourites.
So come with us as we slap on the factor 50 and sprint across the healing fields to find the heaviest, hottest bands that Worthy Farm has to offer…The lower the bassist's guitar strap, the more t...
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! •

Neck Deep: “We’re lucky to be here, so it’s just being aware of that…

“We’ve spent a lot of time over the years trying to be the best that we can be,” says Ben Barlow. “That’s definitely important, but sometimes beauty is in that imperfection.”
“I think that maybe Neck Deep isn’t supposed to be perfect.”
The last time the Wrexham pop-punk giants’ frontman spoke to Kerrang!, he told us that being in Neck Deep had never felt easier. Still the case a year on, as the band – Ben, guitarists Matt West and Sam Bowden, bassist Seb Barlow and drummer Matt Powles – kick off...
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...
Kerrang! •

Album review: EKKSTACY – FOREVER

EKKSTACY is an artist who’s hard to pin down in any one genre, or compare to others. His music is completely its own entity, and that is perhaps what makes it so polarising. You either love it or hate it. But there is a case to be put forward that doesn’t need to be so black or white. His third album, FOREVER, certainly sounds rather basic on a surface level, but it serves a purpose – it’s music for the sensitive, the daydreamers, and the ponderers. It’s not meant to be flashy.
FOREVER is daze-i...
Kerrang! •

Album review: The Amazons – 21st Century Fiction

Something has happened to The Amazons. The indie outfit we once knew have been chewed up and spat out as something far more gnarly, with guitars heavily overdriven and amps cranked right up. 21st Century Fiction, described as their heaviest album yet, certainly takes a different direction. With a far more alt.rock slant, it even pulls influences of country and peppers in a dash of funky groove here and there too.
Accompanied by narratives of dissatisfaction with promised tales of certainty and...
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...
Kerrang! •

Album review: Superheaven – Superheaven

Opener Humans For Toys stomps in with the unforgettable darkly hazy tones that put this band on the map, and delves into the pessimism dredged up by a world that seems constantly on fire. Elsewhere, the band look inwards. On Sounds Of Goodbyes, they pick apart the feelings that surfaced at the time of their break away, mirrored in the sounds of guitars whining and sulking, where closer The Curtain grapples with a thirst to not want to waste time anymore, and finding a way back to self-rediscover...
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! •

Album review: Teen Mortgage – Devil Ultrasonic Dream

A laid back, misfit aura oozes out of Washington D.C. duo Teen Mortgage, and they’ve bottled it in their debut album, Devil Ultrasonic Dream. It’s not the sort of carefree mindset that’s frivolous and without worry, more of a ‘the world is going to shit and I’ve had enough’, anti-rat race and anti-bullshit, no-fucks-given vibe. Hell, even their name alludes to the endless ways to sacrifice your livelihood to the powers that be, all to simply survive.
Across its fast and fizzy 11 tracks, Devil U...
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...
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