The Man I Love (courtesy of Big Creek Projects)

Soundsphere] How are you feeling ahead of the big Cannes premiere?

Rami Malek] I think I’m constantly taken aback. I never get used to these moments. It’s like the moment you get a job that you’ve auditioned for or been in. Hopefully you just wanted or cherished or thought might come to fruition. But there’s always this unexpected feeling that you never know what’s going to happen, and Cannes is something I never, ever expected. And the fact that we’re here right now is still a moment I’m trying to savour and feels a bit surreal. I mean, it’s Cannes. Its extraordinary.

Ira Sachs] I think for me, I have so many layers of memory. I’ve been here twice. This is my second time with a film, but I started coming here in the early 2000’s and basically putting on a suit that I bought, unlike this one, and would just knock on doors and look for money. So the idea of coming back here 25 or 30 years later and actually having been able to create a sustained career making movies that are very personal to me seems something like I didn’t necessarily expect was possible.

S] What has changed these past 25 years when knocking on doors, asking for money to sustain your career, and to tell stories like The Man I Love?

Ira Sachs] Well, everything has changed since then. So many things. I think there is continuity. One of the things about this film in particular, is people refer to it as a period film, but I actually feel like it’s a film that’s very much in continuity to my own life, having moved to New York in 1984. So, in a way, I’m making a film that feels like a film about the present. The things that have changed for the industry have been numerous, and we could be here all day to talk about them. But I think the challenge for filmmakers like myself in New York is to figure out, and in America, is without any support of the government or state support, how do you keep going? And I think, yeah, there’s not so many of us who’ve been able to do that. But I would also say you still have to knock on the door. My producers who are here, David Siegel, Scott McGehee, Mike sprinter, they said yes, but it wasn’t like everyone said yes. I still have to knock on doors.

S] Rami you wanted to work with Ira for a while, what drew you to Jimmy specifically that made you want to star in this film?

Rami Malek] I’ll go back to Ira first and foremost. The canon of work speaks for itself. What a unique artist that I think we can all cherish. These are timeless films that Ira has put into the world. I think they will live on and we will constantly go back to them for feelings that certain aspects of cinema don’t always give us, but Ira always delivers. There’s great intimacy and empathy and a certain ‘Je ne sais quoi’ European style about his films that not many American filmmakers can pull off so elegantly but it’s something that comes from the soul and has so much meaning. You keep discovering meaning in the characters in the story, and they just last with you. I wanted to work with someone who I knew I could lean on, depend on, collaborate with, and make a piece of beautiful art that we both saw great pleasure in. That’s what resonates in Jimmy’s character, a man seeking great pleasure and intimate moments every second, trying to grasp every ounce of that in his life, even though there is this sense that life may be fleeting, but pushing that away, as we all do at times. But this is a bit more grave.

S] This film deals with the AIDS crisis in 80s New York, how was it like to develop that story?

Ira] Well, I’ve been working with my co-writer Mauricio Zacharias for 15 years. This is our 6^th feature that we’ve made together. And really, from the beginning when we started talking to each other, we both were gay men, and he was living in LA, I was living in New York. But we kind of went through this, maturation process, this time of being young in a really intense, intense world. And we were trying to figure out how we might share that through a film. And it took a long time in a way, to have the distance. I think what we came to is that we wanted… We actually started a script that we got about halfway through and we’re thinking this is not the movie. That was a script about death. We realised, you can’t really make a film about death. You can only make a film about life. Right? Because we’re all, sorry, we’re all going to go. But what we’re doing now is what is cinematic, what is dramatic, and what is actually quite true. So, it’s a film in which I tried to put into everything that I could imagine that I would miss the most when I wasn’t here. I will say that just by sitting here with Rami, I think our souls are in this film together in a significant way. We made this together and I think there is no film without his performance, and without him literally bringing in everything that is a part of himself. We really were a mirror for each other in this film and the making of it.

Rami] Truly, and I can say the same. Ira brought out a performance in me that I don’t think I would give in another situation because of the belief. But Ira is definitely an actor’s director among all the things that he can do and we really did believe in each other. We did all the work ahead of time. We have constant conversations and it was a beautiful collaboration to create. Before we were actually filming, we were properly creating and developing a relationship that would give us some type of ease to be able to speak to each other about almost anything. We could and we did, and even after the film, and post as well.

S] We know Jimmy in terms of his emotionality and the many layers to his character. But there’s also learning to sing and playing guitar for the role. What went into your process of finding who Jimmy is?

Rami] Well, Ira gave me quite a bit of research. I was introduced to some great films. We watched Beau Travail. We watched a lot of Claire Denis, Fassbinder, I mean, you name it. Tell me more. Where do we go? The Mouth Agape.

Ira] For me, I try to figure out a language that we’re experiencing together, but really, my job is to build a world and that we really committed to making a film, a New York film in New York City. A lot of my job was filling the world around Rami so that he didn’t have to imagine this time or period. I think the thing it’s not New York for its exteriors in this movie, it’s New York for its people. The thing about New York is, actually the people are still really great and really interesting, driven and unique. That is kind of this ensemble that we built from people who are living in the 80s in the city. That’s the part that they connect most to, I would say.

Rami] I was picking up a guitar to learn a song that may or may not have made the film, learning piece of choreography that may or may not have made it into the film. So, I was constantly busy because I didn’t know what he was going to throw at me. Things would constantly change and evolve, and that was a beautiful thing. We would look at different performance artists from the 80s. We’d look at Arthur Russell, we would look at Ron Vawter from the Worcester Group. Frank Maya. I was getting this wild education from the 1980s that I never would have had. It was before the time of globalisation where you have everything at your fingertips. It’s almost as if you were getting handed this… In the way they must have been sharing a cassette or a videotape of something, or actually going there and seeing these live performances. What I loved about that is it infiltrated the world around us, in the design, costume designer Megan Bowman created this incredible world that was very specific to that. She would bring up this concept of punk rock that would be very different in New York rather than it was in San Francisco, and little nuances that you had to think about that you could bring into the character.

Ira] For most of you who haven’t seen the film, just to say that, there’s many dramas in the film, but one of them is Rami plays a character who’s a part of a theater group, and they’re trying to put on one possibly last great show that he’s going to star in. So there is this kind of narrative suspense element to the film. Is the show going to go on? That gave us kind of a direction where we could, as I said, talk about what is possible, not about what is impossible. There’s a theater world that he lives in. There’s the world of his home. He’s in a partnership with a character played by Tom Sturridge. There’s a young guy who’s come to New York, played by Luther Ford. There’s some other relationships. Things happen. But in some ways, it’s a backstage theater drama that’s the genre, if you were going to call it one.

S] As this film is multi-genre, a key element here is the idea of queer cinema and the importance of queer storytelling. How have you seen the industry change?

Ira] It’s gotten worse. There’s this idea that progress grows in one direction. As we can see, that is not always the case, right? Look at what’s happening in America right now in all sorts of different areas.  What I want to know, what will inspire me and what will make it like the images that I have permission to make. I go back to the 70s and 80s and I go back to filmmakers like Pasolini,Fassbinder and I go back to a wonderful film called Taxi Zum Klo, made in Germany in 81. I mean, the images, they blow your mind, and I do show those all to Rami because we’re allowed to make anything. But there is also, in globalisation, a slimming of what seems allowed, right? Because everything needs to be translatable, economically. So, that has narrowed the possibility of what I call local cinema. A cinema in which people are actually telling the stories of what’s happening right in their homes, and in their city, and in their town, so that’s more difficult and that’s more difficult for gay people and queer people as well.

S] Rami, you have been very unafraid to play queer characters quite famously. With Bohemian Rhapsody, and now this film. What was it about Jimmy and the opportunity to bring this complex romantic story to the screen?

Rami] I fell in love with Jimmy. All his contradictions. At times, I would actually come up to Ira. Are people going to like this character? He can be very selfish at times. He can be very narcissistic. He’s very different to that other character that I love so much as well. There’s a great drive and passion that Jimmy has, and we would often refer to him as the guy who, he might or might not be featured in The New York Times, but he’d he definitely be on the cover of The Village Voice. There’s a soul in him and a feeling of a desperate need to create. That’s what keeps him alive. I could just connect to that, I feel like I have a similar sensibility, it doesn’t need to happen day to day for me. And I mean, with the right project, this definitely being that. But for Jimmy, there’s a passion, there’s this zest for life in every aspect in having a beautiful dinner with friends and sharing ideas in this way that I don’t know, we do communally, the way I was referring to that happened in the past. That’s quite unique and gorgeous about this human being who is trying again to live life to the fullest, fill it with so much pleasure and pride, and intimacy and relationships in his art and all during a time where there’s a tragic theft of life surrounding him. So, there is that ticking clock and that real desperation to create, that I found magical about this man.

The Man I Love (courtesy of Big Creek Projects)

S] On the idea of creativity as survival. This film is about making art. Making art as a refusal to disappear in Jimmy’s case. How do you relate to that in your work as an actor and in the choices of projects that you’re making?

Rami] I love that. I did feel it was this almost…It was a refusal, this stubborn refusal. I don’t know that it’s actually that stubborn. It’s just a will to survive, in the world of creativity, against all odds. There’s something quite human about that. And to your point about how limited time is, how much can we jam into that time that we are actually proud of? I’m more considerate about the choices I make, how they’ll affect me, but moreover, how they’ll affect society. Will they land? Will they leave an impact? I very much think that this film will. I think it will resonate with many people, people who lived in that period and beyond. To go back to Ira’s films, they stay with you, they stand the test of time and I think this character will. So, I’m incredibly proud of it and what we’ve achieved.

Ira] I also want to say that this film for me and I think for Mauricio, my co-writer as well, came out of the pandemic. I mean, where I think all of us had a feeling of something was over, right? I think specifically for a lot of artists, there was this sense, can we still make work? Will that be part of our lives anymore? I felt depressed, I felt like I ended up starting to write because I was thinking, well they can’t take that away from me, right? They can’t take the computer and my fingers away from me. The world might take away cinema. But I think this idea that that something that would connect me to myself through the creation of art felt very essential at that time. I’m just trying to imagine what Cannes was like in the late 80s and how it’s changed. What restaurants were like and how groups of people gathered and how they talk to each other. Someone was telling me that you’d learn about a party, this was maybe a little before that, by a flier that was on a wall at the press booth, like come to the party tonight. That’s already such a different and in a way, more tangible way of being together. So, I hope everybody’s having some of that here, a little bit.

Rami] There’s always another film bubbling over here.

S] We have seen Bohemian Rhapsody so we know that you can perform for mass audiences. But this required a different type of singing and a different type of performance, more intimate. One of the most raw moments in this film is the performance of Look What They’ve Done To My Son Ma. 

Rami] It can be quite nerve wracking still. I mean, I remember maybe after the first take of that shot, I was wearing a shirt similar to this color and it was soaked. I’m not someone who usually sweats. I was thinking, “oh, okay, this is happening again”. You better take a beat, step aside, calm down. Singing live in front of an audience, they’re hearing it for the first time, and there’s a beauty in that. There’s a power in that. I think that’s something that Ira wants to capture in every element of the film, something that is being created in the moment, that just happens to get captured on celluloid. There is at times, this simultaneous thing that’s happening and it’s this adrenaline rush, but this actual trepidation. I feel like in those moments, I love to rise to the occasion. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it happens on the first take, sometimes it happens on a fifth take, sometimes it ends up on the cutting room floor. But I do enjoy performing. I guess that’s why I’m here. But there’s a very raw element to the music in this. Picking up a guitar, not playing it perfectly. You can hear that in the film, and I think it gives it a particular feeling of authenticity that you don’t often see in film.

Ira] I want to just add one thing as we edited, started it…I work with an editor named Afonso Gonzalvez, and we’ve been working together for 30 years. When we were in the cutting room, one thing that became apparent to us around the songs, and particularly Rami’s performances, is that the songs become a form of dialog. I think then, that they’re really working for the film. They’re not about the song, they’re about how the song connects the character to the other people in the room and to the audience, and it’s a different kind of song than in that other film, right? Which is something around popular music, which is its own beautiful thing. But this is really a different kind of film. I mean, I think about what what I love about Judy Garland in A Star Is Born and what I love about Ida Lupino in the original, The Man I Love is that the songs become language between people.

S] Looking back at your Oscar win, during that speech, you took a space to acknowledge the historic nature of becoming the first Egyptian to win that Best Actor prize. You didn’t speak about the grandness of it but the young boy who was trying to find his own identity growing up. What have you heard from others that meant for you to be on that stage?

Rami] Well, I think that one of the greatest achievements of receiving that award is the hope that it’s imbued in so many people all over the world, especially where my family is from in Egypt, and the surrounding neighbourhood countries. But all over the world, I think people can relate with what it feels like to be an immigrant or first generation citizen in any country. That comes with some weight. To be able to connect to that accomplishment in some way and hopefully inspire anyone, young people, people my age, people who are still trying to figure things out in their life. It fills me with some sense of pride that is, it’s greater than even doing the work itself, for me, it’s something I take more pride in. I thanked my mom on that stage and I continue to thank the people that helped me get there. All the great casting directors that helped me along the way. Cassandra Kulukundis won an Oscar and she put me in The Master when I was younger. Francine Mazur was nominated this year. I remember auditioning for her. While we’re here, I was on the carpet and I was asked women who I admire and my mother’s name came up immediately, but I thought about makeup designer Jan Sewell that I’ve worked with for a number of years now. Fay De Bremaeker is here. Jan is someone, who brings such authorship and intelligence and architecture to a film that sometimes I can count on someone like that in the way I can a director. There’s so many women that I find as the majority of my mentors in life. I could continue to speak to Ellen Miroknick as a costume designer. I’ve done two films with Ruth Carter, all these incredible women that I think have helped shaped me as a human being throughout my life, that I’d like to give a shout out to.

Ira] Both our mothers are alive and well and would be, very proud, a little bit shy, but they would have their own take. I will say that when I first started working with Rami, he was on zoom with his mother and she said, “Take care of him, take care of my son.”

Rami] She was very aggressive. I was like, take it easy ma.

The post Interview: Rami Malek and Ira Sachs reflect on their queer New York film, ‘The Man I Love’ appeared first on Soundsphere magazine.

Soundsphere sat down with Cedric Alexander to discuss his new home, faction, and championship reign. More importantly, we discussed his upcoming title defence against several other wrestlers at Slammiversay in an Ultimate X match – which is arguably TNA’s signature match, for its signature championship.

Image credit: TNA Wrestling

Soundsphere: Why does Cedric Alexander need a faction, and why does he need The System?

Cedric Alexander: The System needed Cedric Alexander. Let’s put it this way: when it comes to factions, I make factions cool, right? The last faction I was part of? Gold everywhere. Everyone had gold. The current faction I’m part of? We’re currently in the process of getting everyone draped in gold. The common denominator is that once I join, everyone gets covered in gold. 

Soundsphere: As you said recently on Impact, the X Division Championship is the signature championship of TNA. What did winning it mean to you?

Cedric Alexander: To me, the X-Division Championship means everything that wrestling is today. If you look back at the pioneers of the X-Division title, you’ve got your Samoa Joes, your Christopher Daniels, your AJ Styles, Amazing Red, the Motor City Machine Guns, all guys who solidified what it means to be X-Division. But look at what they’ve done. They’ve all molded wrestling to be the X Division, essentially. AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Daniels, The Guns, everyone loves them as wrestlers and copies them. They’re their favourite wrestlers’ favourite wrestlers. You can’t tell me a single wrestler today who hasn’t been influenced in some fashion by either the X-Division or one of the men who pioneered what it means to be X-Division.

Soundsphere: I also think about how closely it’s associated with the Ultimate X match. The two almost go together, especially around Slammiversary time. What’s your take on Ultimate X as a whole?

Cedric Alexander: Man, it’s probably the most innovative match to come out in recent history, to be perfectly honest. To take something as simple as a ladder match and twist it in such a way that it’s not even a ladder match anymore. Everyone liked the King of the Mountain match, it’s the reverse ladder match, and that’s cool. But the concept of saying, “No, we’re going to forego ladders altogether and just hang two cables across the ring. Now you’ve got to climb up that and retrieve the belt,” wow. That’s a whole different level of athleticism. It goes from being about who can jump the highest or furthest to who has the ability to hold onto this cable while you’re sweating, jumping around, and beating the crap out of each other for 20 minutes to grab that belt and come down with it.

Image credit: TNA Wrestling

Soundsphere: As the reigning X-Division Champion heading into an Ultimate X match at Slammiversary, one of the biggest wrestling events of the summer, that must be ticking a few things off the bucket list?

Cedric Alexander: Oh yeah. Ultimate X is one of them. Defending the X-Division title in an Ultimate X match – absolutely. I don’t know who’s in the match yet or how many people there’ll be, but as long as I win, that’s all that matters.

Since the inception of the X Division, I’d say the X-Division Championship has been the signature championship in wrestling. There’s always someone trying to recreate something like the X-Division, but it’s its own special thing in TNA. It’s one of a kind. You can’t replicate it, you can’t duplicate it. It is what it is. There will never be another X-Division in the way this title has been represented. It’s the most influential division in wrestling. I think that’s a pretty fair assessment.

Soundsphere: You’ve been in multiple promotions and done well in every single one. What do you think when you see fans engaging in tribalism online?

Cedric Alexander: It makes me question whether you really love wrestling. I love wrestling in all its forms. I watch all the companies and all the talent. I have friends and close acquaintances throughout various promotions, so I keep an eye on everything. I would never say one company shouldn’t exist because of how I feel about it. Everyone deserves to work. Everyone deserves to find a place that makes them feel comfortable and works for them. TNA has been that place for me.

I don’t want TNA to go anywhere. I don’t want WWE to go anywhere. I don’t want AEW, AAA, or MLW to go anywhere because people need places to work and somewhere they can spread their wings. I’m just happy wrestling has so many places to do that.

When I see tribalism and people saying a company sucks because of this or that, I think: wrestling is thriving as a whole. There was a time, 15 or 20 years ago, when you only had WWE. Then TNA came along, then AEW, and companies like AAA gained more exposure. It’s all working together. If you love wrestling, you’ll watch everything. If you don’t like certain things, that’s fine, but there’s no reason to hate another person because they like what you don’t.

I remember when there was WCW, ECW, and WWE all at the same time, and we thought we were eating great then. Now we have those companies and then some. The accessibility of wrestling now means there’s wrestling every single day of the week. You’re always going to find something wrestling-related – something live, something new.

To me, that’s a wrestling boom. I don’t think it’s been this good in a long time. It can always be better, but it hasn’t been this good in a long time, and I’m proud to be part of a time when wrestling is booming.

Image credit: TNA Wrestling

Soundsphere: In the relatively short time you’ve been there, how has TNA been as a home to you?

Cedric Alexander: TNA has been a great home to me. I can’t put TNA over enough for reigniting my love for wrestling and making me feel comfortable in my own shoes again. I’ve said it numerous times: this is the most comfortable and natural I’ve felt in the ring in a long time.

I put having fun and enjoying myself in wrestling above all else. If I don’t enjoy this, I don’t want to do it. The joy I get from wrestling again in TNA just makes it worth doing. It’s hard to explain something you love so much. To make it as blunt as possible, wrestling saved my life in a lot of different ways. Without wrestling, I would not be here today. I would not be the human being I am right now. The fact that TNA has been able to give me that again is just freaking amazing. 

Since coming to TNA, I’ve found my spot. I feel useful. There are things for me to do and ways I can help and grow, not just myself, but the business as well. I feel like I’m doing something instead of sitting idly by and watching the world pass me by. It’s something I wouldn’t change for the world.

Slammiversary will take place on June 28, 2026, at the Agganis Arena in Boston, Massachusetts.

The post Cedric Alexander on becoming the TNA X-Division Champion, Slammiversary and Ultimate X appeared first on Soundsphere magazine.

We loved Gothic back when it arrived in 2001. It was a game that existed before the open-world boom, so the level of freedom it offered players was unprecedented at the time. But it wasn’t just the exploration; Gothic is a game that involves lots of chatting with NPCs and long stretches of dialogue. While it looked more like a third-person action game, it actually had a lot more in common with titles like Baldur’s Gate and arguably paved the way for games like Dragon Age, Mass Effect, and even 2023’s Baldur’s Gate 3.

This is because Gothic wasn’t just a fantasy RPG; it was a prison drama hiding within one. As far as the story goes, Gothic involves the player, called the Hero, being thrown into a colony full of convicts for an unknown crime. If the player wants their Hero to be a wrongly accused innocent, they can be, but they can just as easily be a dirty, rotten scumbag with no remorse. It all depends on who you want to be when you arrive. The colony was once a mine that condemned criminals needed to toil in, but due to a spell going wrong, the colony became surrounded by a magical barrier, so if any inmates try to cross it, it’s instant death.

A faithful remake

Image credit: THQ Nordic

So that’s exactly where the Gothic remake begins, and in many ways, it’s the same experience as it was in 2001, only far, far prettier. The game doesn’t quite match other modern titles in terms of visual fidelity, but it’s perfectly passable, and fans of the original will be blown away by the glow-up. Gothic still retains its old-school feel and a lot of the quirks from the original, but things have been polished to make it less janky – but the jank is still here. This is especially true when it comes to the game’s combat, which is cumbersome.

However, that’s the point. Your character isn’t some legendary warrior, but he can become much more proficient in battle as the game progresses, which makes combat feel more fluid. By the end, the combat will feel more more engaging and fun, but it takes time. In fact, it takes time to get going is something we can apply to the whole game, as this really is a slow-brining adventure that gradually opens up. By the end, it’s an epic adventure with massive stakes, but you’re going to need to spend many hours as a lowly criminal at the bottom rung of the ladder.

But it’s this slow transformation that makes the adventure worthwhile. Your character will start off making friends by bringing mushrooms to cooks and doing odd jobs for important people, while slowly building alliances with the movers and shakers in camp. In time, your influence grows, as do your combat abilities, and eventually, you’ll be in a position to supplant those who once kicked mud in your eye – which is oh so satisfying.

The remake has also added some new content around the female characters, along with fleshing out the Orc faction some more. These are welcome changes that long-time fans will relish, and it honestly makes the Gothic remake the definitive version of a classic game that inspired the likes of The Witcher and Kingdom Come series. However, we worry that the Gothic remake may not have the same appeal when it comes to newer fans.

A lack of modern conveniences

Image credit: THQ Nordic

Younger players may pick up Gothic to see what all the fuss is about, after all, this is a legendary RPG and it’s influence on other franchises that have gone on to become household names is no secret. But while the game should be applauded for being such a faithful ground-up remake of the original, some of this is going to alienate newer players.

Like the original, Gothic does not feature quest markers or a functioning map that shows you where elusive NPCs and areas are. This isn’t like Assassin’s Creed or Crimson Desert, where you can collect a quest, then just head in the direction of a quest marker. Instead, the game requires much more effort on the player’s part. Sure, there’s a map, and a quest log, but there’s no HUD showing you where to go. Players will need to listen to player dialogue carefully if they’re to succeed in Gothic, and this isn’t going to appeal to everyone.

In truth, the uncompromising nature of Gothic is part of it’s appeal, but these modern trappings have become expected in games today and many players may not have the patience to see the experience through. Even if Gothic did have these modern conveniences, it would still be a punishing experience. So, it all depends on you’re taste as a player, and if you’re up for the challenge. Those who are will find a very rewarding experience, but we shouldn’t pretend it’ll be for everyone.

Ultimately, the Gothic remake achieves everything it set out to achieve and gives a classic RPG a modern makeover so that it can be appreciated by a new generation of questers. However, the game refuses to compromise on it’s quirks and stops short of modernising fully, as doing so risks taking away from the experience it’s trying to deliver. This will always mean that the remake is a step behind many of the games the original inspired, but at least it will be true to what made Gothic so legendary in the first place. The teacher may no longer be the master – but it can still kick your ass and show you a good time.

The post Gothic Remake Review: Is the teacher still the master? appeared first on Soundsphere magazine.

And it’s not like she minded that either. Her willingness to be the butt of the joke and down cans was always part of her charm, but in recent years, it’d become something more like a ceiling. “I’ve been wrestling so long and I’ve had so many ups and downs, lately it was like I’d almost forgotten what the ups were like,” she admits.

“I was always so used to the bottom spot. Regular, always there, always reliable, and you spend so long kind of floating around wrestling, not knowing your place, not knowing if you’re needed.” When she looks back at the last couple of years, she remembers a distinct feeling that she was wasting everyone’s time.

Six months ago, those lingering doubts crystallised in a shockingly earnest promo where she admitted that she wasn’t injured, wasn’t hurt – but just didn’t think she could do it anymore. She’d lost her dad at the start of the year, and her mum had spent several months in hospital. “You don’t know how hard it is,” she told the crowd, “to get on a plane, come and dance and drink and put on a face every month, and lose.”

A gear switched after that point, and suddenly the resident funny woman had set in motion one of the most moving stories of the year, not least because she was urged on by Millie McKenzie, who was forced to step away from the ring by a rare form of liver disease. EVE owner Dann Read says grounding everything is reality was part of the magic. “So much of it was real,” he says. “I think that’s the beauty of it. Every element to the storyline we told had reality involved, everything in regards to what [Martina] had been going through in her personal life, and then everything that Millie had been going through.”

“If you’re not gonna do it for yourself,” she’d told a tearful Martina, “Do it for me.” And she did.

Her win at Wrestle Queendom back in March was momentous for many reasons, but one of them was hearing that conversation ring out in a video package at the O2, reminding fans, and Martina herself, of the battle it took to get there.

“It’s one of the big memories stuck in from the whole day,” she says of hearing it a second time. “Obviously, I’m so nervous, it was the biggest stage I’ve ever had. I’m nervous about my skill as a wrestler, to live up to the hype of this huge event that they were after putting me in the main event, so all the insecurities in the promo are quite real.”

CREDIT: Robert Brazier

Watching it back made her believe in her own story as much as everyone else had, because it made her see “from an outside perspective” what she’d actually gone through.

“Seeing a video of my dad in the crowd cheering me on, that coming up in the O2 just brought tears to my eyes right before I went out. That was the most special moment to me. He’ll never know, but his face lit up the O2, and that is the most important moment that I could make that happen.”

Struggling to sum up the weight of all the emotions she felt, she remembers thinking that she’d hit her peak, “and if it’s the end, so be it.”

“I have that memory for life now,” she adds. “That’s forever going to be the best night I’ve ever had in wrestling – and that includes all the years in Japan, America, TV, getting signed, all that stuff. I don’t think anything equates to Queendom, because I thought nothing like that would ever happen again. So it came at a really important time.”

When I ask about conversations she had backstage afterwards when she came back down to Earth, things get more characteristically Session Moth. “Well,” she says with a wry smile, “if you were at Queendom and you were at the after party, there was no coming back down to earth.

“That after party, it felt like heaven. Everybody dancing, the balloons going around, all the girls. Like, it wasn’t about one particular person, it was about every single one of us. Everybody was happy for everybody else. It was a complete joint effort, that show, and everybody played their part.

“I was surrounded by people that care about me. It was genuinely surreal to have people that I grew up in wrestling with, and everybody else that believed in me all these years, [all] coming up to me and sharing that moment. It made it even more special. It still feels like a dream.”

Session Moth Martina celebrates her win at Wrestle Queendom, 2026. CREDIT: Robert Brazier

In the afterglow of it all, she’s re-evaluated her place in wrestling, coming to the welcome realisation that while her legacy might be unique, it’s hers alone. “I’ve done my own thing, and nobody else can really say that,” she nods.

“I’ll never be on the WWE Hall of Fame of Irish Wrestlers – that’s Fergal Devitt, that’s Becky Lynch, that’s [Lyra] Valkyria, and it’s JD McDonagh. I’m going to be off on a little rock over the other side. It might not be as pretty as this one, but I’ve carved my own legacy over the years. That’s something Queendom made me realise. Just because you didn’t exactly get the typical journey, you still had a crazy story. And at the end of the day, no one else can really say they’ve done that.”

It’s not to say that outlook didn’t falter slightly when she watched things go a different way for other people. “I’ve seen someone get really popular on the scene, and then get whisked away to Japan, or WWE or AEW. And it can happen very quick, because on the internet, things come in 24 hours – if you happen to be the hot product in that time, you’re good.

“I feel like I’ve had that 24 hour loop a few times, but it just never really took fire for me,” she says. “But in a way, that’s kind of created my consistency over the years. Constantly trying to take fire means you’re constantly burning.”

Having always sensed she’d tread a different path, she famously turned down a WWE contract in favour of signing to Ring of Honor, wrestling there only a handful of times before Covid forced the company to temporarily shut down. Then, a few years later, she made three appearances on AEW, which, with its island of misfit toys energy, is the place she’s always hoped to settle. “I’ll never forget it, when they had their first press conference, I was like, ‘This is the dream,’” she says. “The people that don’t fit the WWE criteria, maybe this is the place for them. I would like to think that if I have a chance anywhere, it could be there.”

AEW’s own Will Ospreay co-produces the EVE shows, and Martina says the “TV excitement” he’s introduced has benefitted all the women on the roster, as has, frankly, his name.

“A lot of people won’t admit it, but they’ll come to see Will Ospreay more than they’ll probably come to see female wrestling,” she shrugs. “He knows that, so he’s helping us get more people in the door, and they’re staying for us.

“He’s going to go off and do amazing things with AEW and Wembley, but he’s constantly looking back on us and thinking, ‘These girls are good, how am I going to help them?’ It’s a very selfless endeavour he’s taken on and it’s helped women in Brit Wres an insane amount. I never would have imagined the best wrestler in the world taking an interest in British female wrestling, but here we are.”

“He could wait at home for his meet and greets with AEW, but he’s there in a staff shirt at the Big Penny Social after wrestling the best people in the world. Like, that’s humble if I ever seen it. He has everyone in the world talking about EVE.”

Session Moth Martina and Will Ospreay: CREDIT: Robert Brazier

As for conversations he’s had with Martina about what’s next in store, she says she’s finding out with the rest of us.

“I think that’s his idea of what this championship reign is going to be. It will be me taken off guard, having tests thrown at me. I have no idea which way it’s going to go, and the pressure is surreal, because I had such a big moment. There’ve been so many incredible female wrestlers as EVE Champion before, how do I make my mark on this thing now before whatever’s next?”

When I ask Dann Read what it is that sets her apart, he wishes me luck summing up what is a lengthy and considered talk on wrestling itself.

“Wrestling as a subject, people have quite a visceral response to it,” he says. “And it’s because they think that wrestling is trying to con them – this idea of ‘is it real or not real’ – so their guard is immediately up.” As he sees it, Martina is one of the few who can disarm even the most casual fan.

“Over the years, over the decades, you’ve always heard of the term, ‘everyman’. I don’t think there’s ever really been an everywoman. I think that we all know someone like a Martina, and we all like someone like a Martina. There is an element of fun, but also very much still nine to five trying her best, and that’s kind of who we all are in life. When you see that character, she allows who she is as a real person to come through in both the good ways, the fun times, but also, the bad and the sad times. I think she’s able to help get people’s guard down on what wrestling is.”

Whatever comes next, she’s going to do it her own way, like always. She might not be the flippiest, the fastest, or the most technical, but she inadvertently set a new bar for women’s wrestling after she won her match against Rhio at Queendom, and it is, obviously: Can you move people to tears to the tune of Cascada’s Euro-dance banger ‘Everytime We Touch’?

It’s a feat that only the Session Moth herself could pull off, which I put to her before she faces Alexxis Falcon in her first title defence tonight (June 5). “I always knew I could make people laugh,” she smiles. “But I never thought I’d ever make people cry.”

The post Interview: Session Moth Martina on taking the road less travelled in professional wrestling appeared first on Soundsphere magazine.

Arriving as the latest preview of the record, ‘Space’ continues the band’s rapid ascent from underground studio project to one of the most closely watched new acts in the UK’s alternative scene. The track is out now and accompanied by a new video.

Formed in 2025, Mouth Ulcers bring together vocalist/guitarist Zak Watson, guitarist/vocalist Josephine Rose, bassist Jamie-Lee Culver and drummer David Zbirka. In a short space of time, the quartet have developed a distinct identity rooted in gothic atmosphere, post-punk minimalism and cinematic intensity.

Their sound draws on the shadowy emotional palette of bands like Joy Division, The Cure and Bauhaus, combining wiry guitar lines, melodic bass foundations and deep, resonant vocals to create a style that feels both nostalgic and forward-facing.

‘Space’ itself explores themes of memory and emotional displacement, focusing on how nostalgia can linger like a physical presence while also representing a kind of irreversible loss.

Speaking about the track, the band said it reflects “how nostalgia can feel like both a physical presence and a permanent loss,” adding that this tension runs throughout Silent Pictures, which examines how the past shapes identity while also needing to be left behind in order to move forward.

The band’s rise has been fuelled by early critical support and growing live momentum. Previous singles including ‘Prevail’ and ‘Closer To You’ have earned praise from outlets such as The Line of Best Fit, So Young and Louder Than War, while also receiving strong radio backing across BBC Radio 6 Music, BBC Radio 1, KEXP and Radio X.

Commentators have already singled the band out as one of the most promising names in the UK underground. John Robb of Louder Than War described them as a “very serious proposition”, while The Line of Best Fit noted they have quickly become “a fixture in London’s moody underground”.

Live, Mouth Ulcers have already begun translating that reputation into momentum, with early UK and European shows selling out and a packed summer festival schedule ahead. Their upcoming run includes appearances across the UK and Europe, culminating in a London show at Kentish Town Forum supporting The Mission.

With Silent Pictures, the band position themselves at the forefront of a renewed gothic/post-punk wave, balancing classic influences with a contemporary urgency that has helped them stand out from the pack.

Live Dates
3 JUL – The Warehouse, Leeds (UK)
29 JUL – Paper Dress Vintage, London (UK)
15 AUG – District, Liverpool (UK)
29 AUG – Hit The City, Eindhoven (NL)
7 OCT – Beyond The Music, Manchester (UK)
30 OCT – Grenswerk, Venlo (NL)
31 OCT – London Calling Festival, Amsterdam (NL)
6 NOV – Kentish Town Forum, London w/ The Mission (UK)
29 NOV – Post Punk Strikes Back Festival, Porto (PT)
8-11 JAN – Rockaway Beach Festival, Bognor Regis (UK)

Space, single artwork

Tracklisting
01 – Prevail
02 – Western Horror Story
03 – Space
04 – Silent Pictures
05 – Closer To You
06 – Satisfy
07 – A Perfect End

The post Mouth Ulcers Share New Single ‘Space’ Ahead of Debut EP Silent Pictures appeared first on Soundsphere magazine.

Formed by lifelong friends Danny Dempsey McMahon (vocals), Jocelyn Vance (guitar) and Conor Cusack (bass), DIVIL have built their sound around shared catharsis, channeling personal grief, illness and survival into raw, emotionally charged music.

The band’s story is deeply tied to lived experience. DIVIL initially came together following the death of McMahon’s father, and shortly after, bassist Cusack was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of cancer. Since then, music has functioned as both release and refuge for the trio, with their debut material written during an intensely difficult period in their lives.

That reality has continued to shape their journey. Cusack has recently been called to Belgium for emergency surgery, a pioneering procedure that could significantly reduce his cancer. The Irish music community has rallied around him and his family, with a GoFundMe campaign raising over €100,000 in support.

‘ORANGUTAN’ captures a different emotional register from earlier single ‘Thanks A Million’. Where that track focused on being pulled out of darkness by others, the new release explores resistance, escapism and self-destructive impulses — a portrait of spiralling thoughts and fractured focus.

The band describe it as a snapshot of “a man alone in a house, pacing, fighting his own cravings, screaming into an iPad.”

ORANGUTAN artwork

Musically, the track originated in an unexpected way. Guitarist Jocelyn Vance began experimenting with a loop pedal while listening to Dean Martin, developing a samba-influenced chord progression that quickly became the foundation of the song.

“I was listening to a lot of Dean Martin samba music, and the chords for ‘ORANGUTAN’ grew out of that,” he explained. “Danny came in and latched onto it straight away… that minute eventually became the basis of the demo.”

Vance recalls the recording process capturing an immediate creative spark, with McMahon later transforming the loop into a full lyrical piece during a solitary weekend session. “I just spent the evening screaming into the iPad and pacing the house,” McMahon said. “Writing about it was the perfect catharsis.”

In keeping with that raw energy, the final version of ‘ORANGUTAN’ retains the original iPad recording from its earliest demo stage — a decision the band say preserved the track’s urgency and emotional intensity. Bassist Conor Cusack later added his part, but otherwise the recording was left largely untouched.

That instinctive approach defines DIVIL’s debut EP DIVIL I, a record shaped in real time as the band navigated grief, illness and uncertainty. Alongside ‘ORANGUTAN’, the release will include debut single ‘Thanks A Million’ and closing track ‘Chewing Gum’, which reflects further on loss and resilience.

Despite the heaviness surrounding its creation, DIVIL I ultimately centres on connection — between friends, between past and present, and between survival and expression.

‘ORANGUTAN’ is out now. DIVIL I arrives 19 June.

The post DIVIL Share New Single ‘ORANGUTAN’ Ahead of Debut EP DIVIL I appeared first on Soundsphere magazine.

The track arrives as the latest preview of Lenman’s upcoming project, following recent single ‘Not Likely’, and continues the artist’s stripped-back, aggressively direct approach to songwriting. The new material will be released exclusively via Bandcamp, with a pay-what-you-want model that Lenman says has become central to funding his independent output.

‘You’re Nothing’ is a confrontational, fast-moving track that sees Lenman channel frustration into sharp lyrical critique. Speaking about the song’s themes, he explained that it targets individuals who use public platforms to express harmful or self-important opinions.

“Lyrically ‘You’re Nothing’ is about putting people away, especially people who seem to think their views are in some way clever or important,” he said. “Really I’m talking about the kind of bigot who absolutely can’t help themselves from spouting hurtful nonsense, or someone giving it the big I Am — I’m just trying to take these people down a peg. You know, why should we listen to you? Sit down mate.”

The new single continues a creative phase defined by immediacy and instinct. Puke was recorded over a two-year period using an intentionally minimal approach, with no track taking more than a day to complete and most recordings limited to a handful of takes.

Lenman has described the process as a reaction against more meticulously crafted past work, resulting in a rawer, more impulsive sound. “I made this album completely by accident and really, it’s not an album,” he explained. “It does have a certain accidental cohesion. I spent a lot of time really crafting my last album, and this is a response to that process.”

Much of the record was created in unconventional circumstances, with sessions taking place in various studios and locations depending on inspiration and opportunity. These included spontaneous recordings in Birmingham, sessions near his home studio, and collaborations sparked by chance encounters, including time spent working with engineer Luke Pickering and meeting musicians who influenced the process.

Lenman’s independent approach has also been shaped by his use of Patreon, which he says has allowed him to step away from traditional industry pressures and fund his work directly through fan support.

“This entire project has been funded by the subscriptions from my Patreon,” he said. “It’s a totally new way of working without the pressures and expectations of a traditional label-artist setup and has resulted in my falling back in love with the studio.”

He added that any surplus funding from his subscription model has gone directly into recording the album and related creative work, allowing him to operate with a level of freedom he describes as “a game-changer”.

The release of Puke follows a period of selective activity from Lenman, including his 2023 EP Iknowyouknowiknow and 2022 full-length album The Atheist. While he has stepped back from constant touring in recent years, he has continued to perform at select events, including appearances at ArcTanGent Festival and support slots with acts such as Texas Is The Reason.

Lenman will also appear at ArcTanGent Festival on 22 August, where fans can expect to hear material from the upcoming album alongside selections from his wider catalogue.

With Puke, Lenman continues his long-standing reputation as an artist unafraid to pivot stylistically, embracing rawness, spontaneity and independence in equal measure.

‘You’re Nothing’ is out now. Puke arrives 6 August via Bandcamp.

The post Jamie Lenman Announces New Album Puke and Shares Furious Single ‘You’re Nothing’ appeared first on Soundsphere magazine.

Arriving alongside a new video, the track follows recent single ‘Highs and Lows’ and offers a more stripped-back, emotionally expansive side of the band’s evolving sound. Where its predecessor leaned into punchy alternative rock, ‘Halcyon Blues’ unfolds with a slower, more reflective intensity, building from intimate verses into a wide, atmospheric chorus that highlights the band’s growing melodic scope.

Photo credit: Atiba Jefferson

Lyrically, vocalist Mat Kerekes describes the song as a meditation on emotional distance and quiet disconnection.

“It’s about a silent disconnect between two people,” he explained. “You both know you’re no longer meant to be in each other’s lives but instead of accepting it, you sit in the space between and watch one another become strangers in real time.”

The upcoming album Halcyon Blues marks a significant moment in Citizen’s nearly two-decade career, capturing both the urgency of their early post-hardcore years and the more expansive indie and alternative textures they’ve developed over time. Recorded by Kerekes and mixed by Tom Lord-Alge, the record is positioned as a culmination of the band’s stylistic evolution rather than a reinvention.

Across their career, Citizen have shifted between emo, post-hardcore, indie rock and alternative styles, gradually building a catalogue defined less by genre boundaries and more by emotional consistency and songwriting ambition. Guitarist Nick Hamm says that long-term vision has been central to their identity.

“We don’t think in moments, or months, or record cycles,” he said. “Some bands end up getting sick of whatever walls they exist in, but I see Citizen as this long term creative project where there’s always somewhere new to go, and that’s kept me exhilarated through all these years.”

That sense of continuity has helped the band grow from their beginnings as a group of teenagers in Toledo into a globally touring act with a loyal, steadily expanding fanbase.

Alongside the album announcement, Citizen have also confirmed a major run of worldwide tour dates. The band will begin with North American shows featuring support from Anxious, Hotline TNT, Rocket and Cryogeyser, before heading to the UK and Europe with Modern Color and thistle.. An Australian leg will follow with Drug Church.

The UK tour includes dates in London, Leeds, Glasgow, Manchester and Bristol this October.

With Halcyon Blues, Citizen appear to be entering a new phase that consolidates their past while pushing further into widescreen, emotionally driven songwriting.

‘Halcyon Blues’ is available to stream now. The album follows on 7 August via Run For Cover Records.

Citizen – Halcyon Blues tracklist: 
 
1. Good Fortune 
2. I Can See You From Here 
3. Halcyon Blues 
4. Is It In My Brain 
5. Always The Last One to Leave 
6. Either Way 
7. Matador 
8. Ether 
9. Smooth Talker 
10. Highs and Lows 
11. Anne 

The post Citizen Share Title Track ‘Halcyon Blues’ Ahead of New Album and Massive Worldwide Tour appeared first on Soundsphere magazine.

Photo by Luke Ivanovich

Arriving alongside a new video, the track leans into a softer, more dream-pop-influenced direction for the band, while still retaining the fuzzed-out guitars and driving rhythmic pulse that defined their earlier releases. The result is a more spacious and atmospheric sound, built around swirling guitar layers and melancholic vocals that evoke the blurred nostalgia of long summer days.

‘Someday Sunshine’ marks a subtle but noticeable evolution in Glimmer’s sonic identity. Where previous singles leaned into grungier textures and heavier distortion, the new track opens up their palette, allowing warmth and airiness to sit alongside their familiar intensity.

The band’s debut LP Get Weak, released last October, established them as an emerging force in the US underground scene, blending shoegaze textures with post-punk urgency. Since then, Glimmer have spent much of the past year on the road, touring extensively across both the US and Europe.

That momentum continues this summer, with a packed run of dates beginning in North America before heading across Europe and the UK in July. The band will kick things off in New York City at TV Eye before joining Telepathic Windows Fest in Washington, DC.

Their European leg includes stops in cities such as Rome, Berlin, Amsterdam, and Paris, alongside a UK run that features a London date at The Shacklewell Arms, followed by shows in Northampton, Norwich and Bristol.

Having built a reputation through relentless touring and a steadily evolving sound, Glimmer’s latest release suggests a band increasingly confident in expanding their sonic range without losing the raw emotional core that underpins their work.

‘Someday Sunshine’ is available to stream now.

The post Glimmer Share Dreamy New Single ‘Someday Sunshine’ Ahead of UK and European Tour appeared first on Soundsphere magazine.

Accompanied by a new music video, the track continues the band’s exploration of crushing heaviness and immersive psychedelic soundscapes, balancing towering riffs with cinematic atmospherics. Opening with layers of synthesiser textures from multi-instrumentalist Spencer Ouellette, ‘Rites of Passage’ gradually builds towards a thunderous climax driven by guitarist Rob McWilliams, bassist Phil Cangelosi and drummer Patrick Dunn.

Photo credit: Tom Birch

Speaking about the track, McWilliams explained that the band aimed to create a rolling momentum between the rhythm and lead elements.

“We wanted to go for a barreling, rolling feel between the rhythm and lead, so this one felt perfect for emphasizing those elements while giving you a glimpse into the rest of the album,” he said. “The end payoff is the epitome of that feeling, just letting it ride with a thousand-pound drone to send you off on the journey.”

Over the past decade, REZN have established themselves as one of the most distinctive acts in contemporary heavy music. Known for combining monolithic doom-inspired riffs with expansive psychedelic textures, the band have continually evolved their sound while maintaining a sense of scale and atmosphere that has become their trademark.

Their upcoming fifth album, Cycles in the Infinite Dream, builds upon the foundations laid by companion releases Solace(2023) and Burden (2024). While those records explored contrasting shades of light and darkness, the new album reportedly finds the band unifying both extremes into a more cohesive sonic vision.

Drawing inspiration from the boundary between dreams and reality, Cycles in the Infinite Dream examines the relationship between waking life and the subconscious. The album’s themes have been compared to the surreal storytelling of filmmaker David Lynch, creating a listening experience that blurs the line between the familiar and the unknown.

Cycles in the Infinite Dream, artwork

REZN first introduced the record earlier this year with the single ‘Cloudfall’, a track that showcased new sonic elements including lap steel guitar alongside the band’s trademark blend of progressive metal, doom and psychedelia. The latest single further expands that palette, demonstrating a band continuing to push their sound into increasingly ambitious territory.

The nine-track album will feature songs including ‘Transient’, ‘Aerial Birth’, ‘Devotion’, ‘The Vessel’, ‘Escher’, ‘Primal Thread’ and ‘Terra Preta’, with ‘Rites of Passage’ serving as the opening track.

To support the release, REZN are preparing for an extensive run of European and North American live dates. Their European itinerary includes appearances at major festivals and support slots alongside acclaimed acts including All Them Witches, Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats and Elder.

Having earned praise from publications including Revolver, Stereogum and Treble for their ability to create vast, immersive sonic environments, REZN continue to carve out a unique space within modern heavy music. With Cycles in the Infinite Dream, the Chicago quartet appear poised to deliver one of their most ambitious and expansive releases to date.

Cycles in the Infinite Dream is released on 24 July via Sargent House. ‘Rites of Passage’ is available now.

Cycles in the Infinite Dream Tracklist 

1. Rites of Passage
2. Transient
3. Cloudfall
4. Aerial Birth
5. Devotion
6. The Vessel
7. Escher
8. Primal Thread
9. Terra Preta

REZN EU Tour Dates 

Fri. 12 June – Budapest, HU @ Robot 

Sat. 13 June – Hradec Králové, CZ @ Rock For People 

Mon. 15 June – Bologna, IT @ Freakout Club 

Tue. 16 June – Toulouse, FR @ Le Rex + 

Wed. 17 June – Bordeaux, FR @ Le Rocher de Palmer + 

Fri. 19 June – Clisson, FR @ Hellfest 

Sun. 21 June – Cologne, DE @ Helios 37 

Mon. 22 June – Groningen, NL @ Vera + 

Wed. 24 June – Karlsruhe, DE @ P8 – 

Thu. 25 June – Lucerne, CH @ Sedel 

Fri. 26 June – Manigod, FR @ Namass Pamouss 

Sat. 27 June – Paris, FR @ Le Chinois 

Sun. 28 June – Bourlon, FR @ Rock In Bourlon 

Fri. 3 July – Leipzig, DE @ Parkbühne * 

* supporting All Them Witches 

+ supporting Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats 

The post REZN Share Expansive New Single ‘Rites of Passage’ Ahead of Upcoming Album Cycles in the Infinite Dream appeared first on Soundsphere magazine.