As Everything Unfolds

eastside present AS EVERYTHING UNFOLDS plus support Sunday 7th February 2027 Newcastle - Northumbria University SU Doors 7pm

Depth. An infinity loop of layers that unravel over time, reserved for the most observant of eyes – for those who long to dig beneath the surface. In the case of Charlie Rolfe, the importance of depth has come to define both the art that she creates – as frontwoman and lead vocalist of As Everything Unfolds – and recontextualise the art she holds dearest. “As I've got older, I've appreciated the depth of anything in my life,” she explains. “I can never accept something for how it is on the surface, I have to understand it.” Whether it’s the allegories and social commentary in Blade Runner, the secrets of the vaults in the Fallout video games or My Chemical Romance’s seminal album ‘The Black Parade’ – which she will see performed live in its entirety on her 30th birthday – that desire for artistic depth flows through Charlie. “I love absorbing information,” she adds. “I think that information is one of the most powerful tools in the world, and it's undervalued by a lot of people. The more you know, the more you can potentially set yourself free.” Which brings us to just one thread of the concept behind ‘DID YOU ASK TO BE SET FREE?’, the first album from the Buckinghamshire quartet since signing to Century Media Records (Electric Callboy, Heriot). Set free from who? What? Where? The rigour of that question is what characterises the fluidity of As Everything Unfolds’ third full-length, which grapples with the tightrope between a dream state and reality. Should you walk the tightrope and risk leaving your safe haven of fantasy, or do you continue to live vicariously through other characters and worlds? Do you want to? Are you able to? Whatever the choice – conscious or otherwise – will you find ‘freedom’ at the end of the road? That never-ending labyrinth of questions, not answers, is what shapes the crux of the record. Having supported new labelmates Electric Callboy and genre-bending experts Enter Shikari around the release of 2023’s ‘Ultraviolet’, tragedy hit camp As Everything Unfolds in August 2024 when drummer Jamie Gowers, who was also Charlie’s boyfriend, passed away. Midway through writing this album, with a dream support tour with Bury Tomorrow on the horizon, the quartet – completed by Adam Kerr (guitar), George Hunt (bass) and Jon Cassidy (keys) – banded together to re-ignite the flames of As Everything Unfolds. “It's going to be shit and it's going to be horrible, but running away from it felt like the wrong thing to do.” recalls Charlie. “This is the hardest record we will ever have to do – how can we flip it into something we’re proud of, and give it the longevity and legacy it deserves?” Taking two years to give writing and pre-production the TLC it deserved, the album was recorded between London and Hawley across three weeks in February 2025. Despite initially feeling – understandably – like a record of two halves, Charlie was never going to settle for anything other than a unified concept. While reconnected with old comforts like Thirty Seconds To Mars’ ‘A Beautiful Lie’, Donnie Darko and The Shining, it was when an old university mate recommended a book called ‘The Creative Act’ by super-producer Rick Rubin that inspired the eureka moment for this record.

“I really took the idea of subconscious, secondary-action writing,” she explains. “The stuff that comes out is tapping into a completely different part of your brain.” Leaning into her natural disposition as a multi-tasker, Charlie allowed the ideas to flow into her daily life rather than carving out time to force them out. ‘EDGE OF FOREVER’ was written on a 30-minute drive to Jon’s studio. ‘GASOLINE’ – arguably their best chorus since breakout hit ‘On The Inside’ – came while she was making a cheese toastie. Sonically, ‘DID YOU ASK TO BE SET FREE?’ propels As Everything Unfolds out of the metalcore box into a band who have found their…