The reason behind the musician’s severe dislike for Smith is not clear, though Louder Sound notes how The Jam had inadvertently helped The Cure during the recording of their debut album ‘Three Imaginary Boys’ (1979).

In 1985, Smith mentioned Weller during an interview in which he said that punk wasn’t a political movement: “It later became that, because people wanted it to be seen as a movement.”

With Download expanding to four full days of live music, Metallica are set to headline both Thursday and Saturday night, with two completely different sets. “There’s not many bands that can dig deep into their catalogue and come up with two remarkable setlists, but Metallica are without a doubt one of those bands,” said Copping. “Every time they play, they pull out a couple of rare tracks and fans really crave that. I’m really looking forward to seeing what they’re going to give us each day.”

Despite Metallica’s 40-year career, the inclusion of ‘Enter Sandman’ in Stranger Things earlier this year saw their music suddenly exposed to a whole new audience. Because of that, Copping is sure that there are going to be “swathes of young people coming to Download for the first time, who’ve only recently discovered Metallica”.

And what can those first-timers expect? “One of the things Download has above most music festivals is that community spirit,” says Copping.” Everybody is a huge music lover.”

As well as expanding to four days, Download 2023 will see the festival continue to expand its after-hours entertainment. “In the past, it’s something we’ve just taken for granted but we really focused on it in 2022. Because of that, there was this festival atmosphere throughout the campsite from Wednesday night. We want to keep expanding that because it’s become such a big part of the festival. Download isn’t just about the bands, it’s about everything else that goes on on-site.”

The 2021 event suffered a few last minute cancellations with acts like The Distillers and The Pretty Reckless cancelling their entire European runs, with the latter blaming “unforeseen logistical challenges”. More recently, Poppy has been forced to cancel several European headline shows due to the “current climate of the world” while the likes of Animal Collective, Santigold and SOHN have all been forced to cancel tours in recent months due to to post-pandemic landscape.

Copping hopes the uncertainty will have settled by next summer “but you can never been 100 per cent sure. Bands are coming to us, saying they want to tour and we’re happy to oblige”.

Looking further down the bill, Copping is really excited to have Nova Twins at Download 2023. “The way they’ve exploded over the past 18 months is remarkable,” he said.

The punk duo are one of only five Mercury shortlisted bands to ever play the festival, alongside The Prodigy, Therapy?, Muse and Biffy Clyro. Speaking about what their breakout success means to Download, Copping said: “They’re a great band, they’ve got a great image and a brilliant attitude. They’re obviously pushing diversity boundaries as well and we need to see more of that. I think having a band like Nova Twins on the bill will certainly open things up for similar artists in the future.”

In previous years, Download has been criticised for its male-heavy lineups but the 2023 event features numerous acts with female musicians, with the likes of Evanescence and The Distillers in big slots alongside the likes of Witch Fever, Crawlers, Stand Atlantic, As December Falls and Brutus.

“All festivals need to look at how diverse they are,” said Copping. “It’s something we’ve tried to do over the years, and we’ve still got a long way to go but it’s encouraging there’s so many great, female artists out there. Hopefully we can help give them a platform. We’re a long way down the line from where we were, but there’s still room to improve and we want to do that year on year.”

In recent years, staple Download headliners like KISS and Black Sabbath have retired from touring but, according to Copping, he isn’t worried about where the next generation of headliners will come from.

“Every year we need three headliners and that isn’t easy but there are enough quality bands out there,” he said. “There are plenty of acts that haven’t headlined Download but could: Green Day, Blink-182, Fall Out Boy, Paramore, Panic! At The Disco, Royal Blood, Red Hot Chili Peppers or possibly Foo Fighters. We took the plunge a few years ago and had Muse headline, so it’s about widening the net.”

“Then there are the bands that are coming through now. Ghost, Architects, Parkway Drive all have good slots at Download this year but they’ve definitely got the opportunity of taking that next step to headline status. I’d like to see that happen as well. Then you’ve got a band like Enter Shikari who headlined the Download Pilot in 2021, there’s no question that they have the making of a proper Download headliner.”

Copping continued: “You don’t want to rely just on the heritage acts. Download fans are a lot more open to giving newer artists opportunities than they were, say, 10 or 15 years ago. We can’t just sit there and expect the same headliners year in, year out. We’ve got to try and freshen it up a little bit.”

After 20 years of Download, the 2023 event is arguably its strongest, most exciting year yet. So what’s the secret? “I wish I knew,” said Copping. “It’s crazy that we’re here 20 years after we started and are quite possibly going to have the biggest Download ever.”

“I think the secret is that you’ve just gotta keep driving to get better. From the very first year, we’ve tried to get better bands, better the layout, better the campsite and better the experience. You can’t rest on your laurels. You don’t want to lose sight of the history of the event, or the history of Donington Park and Monsters Of Rock, but you’ve got to keep moving with the times. You’ve got to make yourself current.”

“Maya Hawke might not be preparing to go back to school, as the character at the heart of this record would be but, if she were, ‘Moss’ would guarantee her top grades.”

Maya Hawke’s 2023 US tour is as follows:

MARCH
12 – Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn
15 – 9:30 Club, Washington
18 – Metro, Chicago
19 – Fine Line, Minneapolis

Responding to the idea that Pavement fans would want new music from the band, Malkmus said: “It’s not like we couldn’t play a new song live either; I’m not completely averse to doing that. We just don’t need it recorded.”

The band originally announced their reunion in 2019, with shows booked at Primavera Sound in Barcelona as well as its sister festival in Portugal. Due to COVID-19 enforced delays, they ended up playing their first reunion show in May 2022.

Reflecting on the run of shows, Pavement said they felt like “a tiger let out of the cage”

She continued: “My heart is racing, I’m terrified … It’s not like, ‘Oh what will Bob think?’ It’s like, ‘What am I doing? Am I doing something right?’ I’m going to cry.”

Power has been covering a host of artists over recent years and released a new covers album earlier this year featuring versions of tracks by Frank Ocean, The Pogues, Iggy Pop, Nick Cave, Billie Holiday and others.

Lars described the cover to Rolling Stone as an “insane, three-minute Blue Cheer, crazy, garage-rock version”. “You know what, boys? You done me proud,” the drummer added.

Taipei Houston will be heading out on tour in February and March 2023 where they’ll be opening for American garage punk band White Reaper in various cities across the US and Canada. Find tickets here.