5 Seconds of Summer Talk Singing About Real Teen Issues With Billboard

5 Seconds of Summer Talk Singing About Real Teen Issues With Billboard

5 Seconds of Summer gather together for this week’s cover of Billboard mag.

The band — Luke Hemmings, Michael Clifford, Calum Hood, and Ashton Irwin — opened up about their struggle to be taken seriously as a real rock band, their new album, and more. Check it:

On being a band that actually sings about real issues teens are struggling with: “Look at top 40 radio. No one is writing music that highlights what everyone is scared to talk about — which is that everyone is sick and depressed these days. People our age, we all feel like s*** about ourselves. We wake up and we look at our phones and there are a thousand opinions on who we are — or what we are. It’s destructive.”

On what it was like for them growing up: “Our culture is working-class, like, f****** violent. You can’t afford s***. You take public transport. You buy $5 McDonald’s meals. It’s just epic, depressed suburbia.”

On their inspiration and wanting more from life: “It’s not part of our world in Australia to join a band — you’re a plumber, you’re a bricklayer, you mow lawns. There’s that raw aggression and love for a massive, distorted guitar that already exists in our culture, but then we also loved California-punk melodies.”

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