Brett Anderson and Mat Osman guide us through 30 years plus of catchy, dramatic alternative rock

Bon Jovi Forever (Legendary Edition) ISLAND Jon Bon ...

Welcome to the second of our special Review Of The Year joint interviews. Here, indie provocateur BAXTER DURY and Sleaford Mods’ splenetic frontman JASON WILLIAMSON turn their attentions to the landscape, musical or otherwise, of 2025. Stand by for a bleak, brash, honest and often humorous assessment of the year just gone. Their conclusions? “We’re just flogging this dead horse, aren’t we?” they tell Mark Beaumont

Cassidy Paris: the wet leather look. IAN RITTER/PRESS ...

ARCTANGENT FESTIVAL

Music was an all-consuming escape. Now, every song he writes is a love song At 16, I was just starting to take writing seriously. I became obsessed with lyricism and writing lines and my heroes were a