Knives appear in our Winter 2024 Issue with cover stars L.S. Dunes, Wisp, Fall Out Boy x WWWYF, and Chase Atlantic. Head to the AP Shop to grab a copy.
Melding the raw energy of experimental noise with an unexpected combination of jazz and hip-hop, Bristol post-punk six-piece Knives have brought a distinctive sound to the U.K.’s alternative scene — an unrelenting, complex blend of gritty composition, emotion, and societal critique that’s impossible to ignore. Frequently flaunting two headbanging saxophonists, Izzi Allard and Maddy Hill, Knives’ live sets are an explosive combination of dark, fuzzy jazz, heavy, distorted guitar from Josh Cook and Dan Farren, growling bass from Ben Marshall, and loud, crunchy drums buzzing over the audience like a thick fog.
They were originally formed from frontman Jay Schottlander and drummer Erin Cook’s idea of a Merzbow project with coherent drums over it. This evolved until it became a genre-bending amalgamation, ending with an essence that sounds as if Rage Against the Machine and Show Me the Body performed an MF DOOM track.
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Knives’ latest EP demonstrates their signature sound, packed with unadulterated passion and urgency. The title, What We See in Their Eyes, points at the trope of situations becoming twisted and manipulated through different lenses. “Doppelgänger” takes a stab at queerbaiting tactics in the music industry. The line “Mask full of charm, mouth with no manners” speaks to the emotional dissonance faced by an artist who hides their true self behind a tactical, marketable persona. “He loves the chase but hates what he can’t fix” hints at the industry’s larger issue of aiming to appeal to a queer audience without truly embracing their identity. Contrary to the track’s tough, demanding sound, its ending is sparse; with an air of leaving much unsaid. If What We See in Their Eyes was a warning, Knives’ debut album will be a reckoning — an untethered exploration of chaotic expression.
With matching tattoos, decades-long relationships, and an instantly friendly atmosphere, Knives are a genuine and tight-knit collective. They consistently share their fixed rider of baguettes, cheese, and vegetarian deli meats with bands on their bills.
We connected with three of their members via Zoom: Schottlander, Cook, and Allard. They expressed that they live just down the road from one another — the road being a 20-minute drive.
Much of your music talks about societal challenges. What helps inspire the topics that you’re discussing?
JAY SCHOTTLANDER: The songs are just diss tracks at very specific people. I love a good hip-hop diss track. They all are just very personal. I think everyone in this band has very firm political beliefs, and morally we stand for what we believe to be the right thing, and we like to have open communities. But I never want to be registered as a political band because it just doesn’t feel right, because they’re all scenarios. They’re all based on situations that we’ve all been through and lived through.
IZZI ALLARD: Especially live, you can just see the passion in the room, and it’s actually quite unique. Not many people have a delivery like that.
Has anyone ever confronted you about being the subject of one of your songs?
SCHOTTLANDER: There was one time that we played the song, and the guy was in the room, and I made it kind of obvious. Afterwards, he came up, and he was like, “You guys are so good. I can’t wait to get you on another show.” He just didn’t get it, which I find really funny because it’s probably the most obvious one.
The live performances seem really intense.
SCHOTTLANDER: I always find that so funny when people say that because we’re all just such stupid idiots. The cool thing about it is, when we’re onstage, we don’t even worry about the people. We’re just all having fun with each other. I’ll fuck with people’s shit — just go up and start playing with the guitar tuning pegs.
ALLARD: You put a water bottle in my saxophone the other day!
Is it fully spontaneous, or is there anything that you plan before you go on?
JOSH COOK: The start of the set is normally the same every time, but as soon as that sample finishes, it’s completely unplanned. Maybe we should plan it. It might save me a head to the bass because that seems to be happening quite a lot.
Are there any hidden gems in the Bristol music scene that you can share?
ALLARD: We love Getdown Services. We’re playing with them in a couple of weeks.
SCHOTTLANDER: Hidden gem? They are massive. That’s like if I said Split Chain.
How about Massive Attack?
ALLARD: Yeah, they’re pioneering trip-hop and all of that, with Portishead as well, which is only 30 minutes down the road.
SCHOTTLANDER: We got IDLES. Skindred, they all live in Bristol. The bassist actually taught me at uni. He’s also the bassist in Bloc Party. We’ve got a mates band called Bureau de Change, which are a fucking great Bristol band. Milkfiz as well.
What are you working on now?
ALLARD: We’ve got an album coming out [in 2025]. It’s 11 tracks and a couple of music videos. It’s all new stuff. People have said it’s heavier than what we’ve got already and that it’s leaning towards nü metal, especially because there are more breakdowns. It’s exciting to have a full album come out because, at the moment, we’ve only got a couple of EPs and singles.
Is there any message or feeling you wanted to leave behind with this album?
SCHOTTLANDER: When I write lyrics, it’s just a way for me to put something on a piece of paper that helps me process something that I want to speak about. I don’t expect anyone to get anything from the songs in terms of personal reactions to them because I don’t think any of those songs will make sense to people. You’d have to know the context behind every story, behind every song to understand what it means. It is just more for me to be able to say what I want to say and talk about things that I or other members of the band have experienced.
We’re all a quite tiny, close-knit friend group, so when someone experiences something that’s not so great, we all experience it. People from within our group understand what these songs mean to us, and it’s an experience for all of us. So when you’re looking from the outside, you could just listen to songs and be like, “Oh, this is fun and boppy, and he’s clearly shouting about something,” but it doesn’t need to mean anything to anyone else.
Does writing about people you know let you heal from things and move on, or does it make you ruminate more?
SCHOTTLANDER: It does make me ruminate more. There are songs about people that I’ve had problems with five or six years ago, and as I get older, I start to think, “Why do I still even care about these people?” They are not insignificant to my life now. Going forward, I think that’s something I would want to lean into more, making the writing not so personal. When you’re talking about situations and things that have made you feel a certain way, to be able to go onstage and relive those every night over and over is going to be difficult for anyone. Maybe the songs will change and become more relatable.
If you could collaborate with anyone dead or alive to make something unexpected, who would you choose?
ALLARD: Jorge Ben Jor.
SCHOTTLANDER: Yeah! Jorge Ben Jor is the goat of Brazilian, Latin, and bossa nova music.
ALLARD: We’ve just been obsessed in the past few weeks.
SCHOTTLANDER: Kate Bush would be sick, and she’s making new music right now.
COOK: For me, it would probably be Bloc Party, not because it makes any sense. Just because I was raised on them, and I think they’re fucking awesome.
SCHOTTLANDER: The Armed as well. Knives is just a shell company of the Armed. That’s how I want us to be remembered.