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Interviews & Features

Destination Festival: ‘We are really, really happy with the bands that we’ve got!’

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We sat down and chatted to the wonderful organisers of Destination Festival the other day about their upcoming 2026 edition, their plans for the future and the current state of the scene. Check it all out below!

The event is just a couple of months away now, right? What can we expect?

That’s right! Yeah, we’re getting close, yeah.
Two and a half, just under.

I know there’s some fantastic bands, the lineup’s awesome! I imagine there’s some surprises and some cool stuff going on as well.

There always is, we do try. As far as the cool surprises, let’s get the cool surprises out of the way first, shall we? And I think if I told you what the surprises were, and then it isn’t a surprise! We just recently announced on social media that, our first band could be somebody that is well-known, and everybody knows who they are. I think just a tiny bit of investigation wouldn’t go amiss! But what nobody knows yet, and you’ll be the first one to know along with everybody else, is that there won’t just be one rock superstar, legend on the stage. There’ll be two of them, well-being well!

From the point of view of us, it’s a good thing to do, for people turning up from the get-go. Because you often get with all sorts of shows, people will be there all day and others also drift in halfway through, and there’ll be people who are here for certain bands, and they’re like, ‘Oh, well, we’re not bothered’. So, come in! It’s not going to cost you any more, and if you don’t, you might be kicking yourself later!

We’ve had a couple of lineup changes, but we are really, really happy with the bands that we’ve got. Everybody’s been super supportive this year. It feels to be a bit of a unity this year. A bit more of a unity. Everybody’s a bit more helpful to each other. It’s nice. Band promoters, everybody working together. It’s cool!

You guys have been in the festival game for a few years now. How would you say the scene has changed over time? Do you approach things any differently?

Well, we’ve been doing this since 2017, so that’s nine years now. And we’ve been through a few changes of purpose, direction. But yeah, Rock in the Bowl matured nicely, and then it was time to rebrand. So, now it’s called Destination. Last year, we had to change venues last minute, so it was Destination Forge. Just to let people know, just to make it completely clearly obvious where we’re going to be. But, we really like our venue now. We’ve kind of bedded in nicely. We have a good conversation with the owners and things are running smoothly, so Destination it is.

The New Wave Of Classic Rock movement was a big thing to happen during this time. And that changed a lot, brought the focus onto younger bands. And they’ve always been in focus for the people that are, that are looking, but it really helped create that community, and, uh, people sourcing their music even more from newer bands than older ones. It’s also great to see so many shows hosting younger bands who’ve only been going for a few years, still being successful, still drawing the audience. I feel like, in a way, we’ve helped that along as much as we can, by choosing bands that we think are up-and-coming but really, really good, and they deserve a bigger stage to perform at!

What do you make of the current scene?

It’s good to see bands breaking out a little bit, and just leveling up. We were lucky enough… we had those damn crows on the bill. On the one that never happened. By the time we got the chance to go again, Crows were suddenly…we were lucky enough that they remembered us, and are decent people, so they kept their obligations. They gave us the Corporation gig for us, jt was awesome! There’s so many bands along the way that we’re sort of looking at and about half a year later and thinking, ‘There’s no way anybody’s going to get them for the same price that they got them for last year’. Because they’re just storming it. And it’s really nice to see. And it’s going to be interesting to see who will be the next one to sort of level up a bit!

We were quite happy with Chez’s success over this new album release. She’s done such a fantastic job, and she worked so bloody hard for it, as well. And people have been there for her, they’ve supported her all the way through, from the presales, from all the intimate meet-and-greets, to the bigger gigs, to the hopefully headlining shows in the future! And she’s breaking into Europe nicely as well, Sweden seems to be her go-to destination.

But, circling back round to the original question, audiences are still slightly cautious about picking, buying. And we’ll see, I don’t want to focus on negatives, but we do see a lot of cancellations at the moment. And I think it’s not that people don’t want to. They’re having to, instead of going to them all, they’re having to choose specific. Because the money isn’t going as far as it used to.

We can look at all the little festivals that going around, and you look at the lineup, and you’re like, ‘Well, they’re all great’. Yeah. They’re all great lineups. But I think what it’s not just the lineup that brings people back again. It’s how well you connect with them. And as far as I can see, almost every small festival does the same thing. At this level, I think that personal touch is what people like.

I imagine you’re at least tentatively planning something for next year, have you got some stuff in the works?

Next year, we’ve been approached by bigger bands than we’ve got this year. And that’s about as far as I can let you know! Before we came back again, and it wasn’t like starting over, but everybody was a little bit tentative first time round. And after last year, people were like, ‘Okay, you brought in Kris Barras, you did this, you did this, you did this.’ It worked, and it was nice. It was good. And then this year, we changed the name, but that’s pretty much all. And that was simply because of the change of venue. And then we put this lineup on. So I think the agents and the people who do watch everybody said, ‘Okay, seems like they’re not messing about. Let’s, how do you fancy having Bla’.

You’re pretty active and up on the whole social media side of things. Do you have any advice for people just starting out, in that regard?

Definitely, yes. Um, so this year we decided to try a risky strategy because we were getting social media fatigue, if you can call it that. You keep banging out posts and you’re reaching 10 people. And you don’t quite understand why because you’ve done everything right. And it can be really, really disheartening and demotivating. So, a good old flyer in the hand, and then going and show your face, and talk to people. Go to other events, buy tickets to other events, go as a band as a presence, and show yourself to the people, and talk to them. Have a little QR code on you, you know? Be there in person if you can!

But one thing for people who are starting out, be not cautious, but just relax a bit. If you’ve got your online poster and you’re just banging that out 10 times a day, every single day, it just becomes background noise to people. All they’ll do is just they scroll past, they scroll past. It’s nothing special. Vary your posts. The algorithm favours faces and videos. You only have to look at bands like Not Now Normal or LN, see how well videos are doing for them!

How do you feel about the rise in AI in the industry these days?

When digital art first came out, people were saying, ‘That’s it, that’s the end of all artists’. When Wikipedia came out, people said, ‘That’s it, that’s the end of all knowledge’. Yeah, AI is similar. Yes, it’s moving very fast. It’s getting it’s getting everywhere and you can really tell the difference when you look at it. But there’s nothing wrong with using it to generate ideas. Once you get that… it’s just like a quick digital art search, but it draws it for you. But then take that idea and play with it, or if you’ve got the cash, give it to a real artist. But still use it, it’s a tool. And be mindful of the mistakes it makes. Not everybody wants to see a generic Rockstar with a guitar and flames coming out!

What we tend to do as we design each poster, each t-shirt or anything, we’ll just start with an idea, our own idea. We don’t say to AI, ‘Give us an idea’. But we come up with our own ideas, we write them down, and then we go on to AI, or chat GPT, or whatever it is and just go, ‘Okay, if we did that, what do you think it would look like?’ and it’ll fire something back and we know that, oh, okay, no, that’s terrible! We don’t take it and copy it, we’ll write it down. And then when we’ve got all of the things that we put together, we send it, we give it back to AI and said, ‘Okay, this’. And it’ll kick something out, and then we’re like, ‘Mmm, that makes Better’. Okay, it’s kind of what we’re looking at. And then, we don’t copy paste it. When we know what we think looks good enough, then we say, ‘Okay, thank you very much, AI’. We remove it. And we go and do that. But we basically created it every step. We use AI to show us what it might look like before I spend hours on a desk, creating it!

There might be people out there watching who think that’s tutt-tuts, yes. Because of the energy used. Yes, we are aware of it. We know it needs cooling. But, it’s better than generating pictures of funny cats!

Interviews & Features

Alex Hughes: ‘I’m definitely looking forward to the next project!’

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We chatted to the wonderful Alex Hughes the other day about her new EP, the country music scene and her future plans. Check it all out below!

The EP’s been out a couple of weeks now, right? It seems to have gone down really well!

Yeah, it’s been a pretty great response! So, I feel really grateful that people are are digging the music!

What’s it like to finally have it out after a run of singles the last few years?

It’s been kind of surreal. Doing the single thing for years has been fun, but it just hasn’t felt like a collection of music. So, these songs all together, I’ve been working on them for three to five years, some of them. So it’s so nice to finally have see them through completely from the writing to the recording. And to I got to pick up my very first vinyl! So, just be able to even hold it in your hands is something that’s been on the bucket list for a while for me.

Was it always the same tracks on the EP? Or have some hopped on in that time or been released as a single instead?

Yeah, that’s a great question! It kind of all came together organically, and I did do a writing trip specifically for songs for the EP. But how it did end up changing was, we added one last song, not last minute, but, like, after the others were recorded. That was ‘Slow Dancing in the Kitchen’, and it’s ’cause I I couldn’t release the EP without having it on there!

What’s the plan moving forward? The EP’s only just dropped but is there another release already in the pipeline?

Absolutely, yeah. We’ve we’ve actually got a Summer Surprise that’s going to drop in July. so that’s exciting. And then, yeah, I’ve been writing a ton. So, I’m definitely looking forward to the next project. I think we’re going to definitely do another EP, we’re just kind of collecting those songs now. We’ll get in the studio hopefully soon, kind of after the summer rush, and, yeah, get back in it!

It seems like it’s so difficult these days to plan what you want to put out and how you want to release it, with the streaming algorithms and all this now. It’s such a nightmare to try and keep up with it all!

It is, and it’s just interesting ’cause music’s being consumed so quickly, and there’s so much good music out there. And it’s expensive to produce and release music, so it’s kind of balancing all those things like budgets and keeping up with the demand. But creating something that feels complete, it’s like, it’s a balance.

What’s the writing process like for you?

I know, at least with country, there’s a lot more focus on writing with other people or getting songs from other people. It’s quite fascinating to see from more of a rock background that everyone is kind of writing for each other and chipping in. It’s pretty cool!

Right, yeah. No, you’re so right. It’s so interesting how different genres sort of have their creative process, and then I know it’s different artist to artist, too.

Yeah, but for me, I spend a lot of time just with my guitar coming up with ideas, and brainstorming like titles, hooks. My voice notes on my phone is just absolutely filled with a million (probably terrible) ideas, but they’re there! And then I co-write a lot. So, what I usually do is collect those ideas, and then before I do, let’s say, a writing trip, or even just buckle down and do like a week’s worth of writing, I’ll go through all those ideas, figure out which ones are bad, which ones are good, and which ones I want to kind of maybe present because you can kind of tell, at least, sort of in the country world when you look into the background of somebody, what someone’s strengths might be. So, then I’m like, oh, I have this idea that I think this writer would really be able to help me create!

Do you have a favourite track on the EP?

Ooh, that’s a great question! Um, yeah. I mean, they’re all, as you know, they’re your song babies, so they feel like they’re all precious. Not to choose a favorite child! But, I guess I think maybe the title track, “Taking Me Home,” is my favorite because it it sort of encompasses all of the things that I wanted the EP to have; some fun, sonic sounds that are a little bit more pop and country and just sort of show the influences that I’ve had throughout my life. And, and then lyrically, it’s a love song, and even though it sounds like it might be surface level, when you really listen, there’s some deep, deep lyric things there. So, I think maybe, if I have to choose my favorite, I’d say this one.

While it’s marketed as your debut EP, you actually released another back in 2013. Are there any comparisons you can make between that one and this new release?

yeah, that EP was the first time I ever recorded all my own songs, and they’re all my originals that I wrote. I wrote every single one all by myself. So, it’s a really special EP, and I think you can very easily hear the growth and the change, and not only in sort of how my music has progressed. Like, I feel like this, my new EP is the type of music that I’ve always wanted to create. I’ve kind of finally landed on the sound that feels artistically like me.

I love that EP and I think it’s a really cool stamp in time. I was like quite young when I did it too, so even lyrically, it’s sort of like, you can hear the youth, like the young voice.

It sounds like you have a busy rest of the year planned in terms of shows, right?

Yeah, yeah. It’s going to be a pretty great summer with lots of festivals here in Canada! And then yeah, we’re looking at maybe doing a bit of a tour in the fall. So yeah, it’s great. This EP really sort of opens some doors for me to be able to get on the road and share these songs with people. We’re at that stage, which is great!

What’s it like being a Canadian country artist? In the UK it’s still a sound so deeply associated with the south of the US!

Yeah, you know, I think it’s a really exciting time to be a Canadian artist. I think our music scene’s starting to finally boom. And and it has been for years, but there’s lots of cool opportunities here. I spent some time living down in Los Angeles and then I did a little bit of back and forth to Nashville, but one thing that’s been kind of amazing about settling in Canada is the opportunities. For example, when I first moved back, I got to do a program called the Canada’s Music Incubator Artist Entrepreneur Program. It’s like this two-week long intensive where you learn all about the music industry, and you just gain all these amazing tools. I’m not sure if they do programs like that over there too, but there are just some really cool ways to get support and help. It’s a cool time, and yeah, there’s just there’s lots of cool things going on, too. Lots of cool venues, the Canadian Country Music Awards are always a really fun week, and lots of opportunities there. So, yeah, it’s exciting!

You seem rather active and sucessful on social media. Do you have any advice for artists just starting out, on that front?

This is something that I’ve truly struggled with, is like, how do you not be annoying? But it’s such a great tool, and I think you just have to get over that. Like, people who want to support you, they’ll like what you’re doing and they’ll think it’s interesting, and those who don’t, they’ll unfollow you, and that’s fine. I think it’s a really great tool, and there’s a bit of a balance between posting so much that you burn out. I’ve definitely gone through those phases where I feel like I don’t have any more ideas and I just can’t do it anymore. But when you find a balance that kind of works, it can be such a good tool. So, I guess my advice is like, don’t be afraid to post, you’re not annoying anybody, and be creative with it, and have some fun, like, it’s a free tool!

Any plans/hopes to come to the UK in the future?

Oh Yeah! Yeah, there’s no plans currently, but I really hope to make it out there soon! I’ve had some interesting people even from the UK reach out that that like the music. So, I would like to get out there and play some shows!

Interviews & Features

Chevy Beaulieu: ‘I’m really excited for everyone to hear it!’

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We chatted to the wonderful Chevy Beaulieu the other week about his brand new album, the scene at home in Canada and his plans for the future. Check it out below!

The album is out soon [at time of recording]. Are you planning on releasing any more singles beforehand?

No, what I have out right now is what I got out. I got “Forget a Goodbye” and “Alcohol You”. And then, other than that, no, we’re just going to keep pushing and promoting and pushing forward for the record next month!

The singles seem to be going down really well from what I’ve seen, too!

Oh yeah, no, it’s nice! It was part of the plan, to flood everybody with my music!

I feel like you almost have to nowadays with the algorithms and all that.

Well, everybody’s doing that now. Everyone puts out a new song every couple months, which is hard to keep up. Lots of new music, lots of new artists coming out.

Is there a kind of a particular theme or story to the album as a whole, or is it more kind of individual track-based?

It’s mostly individual track-based. The way I… we had it set up, I made it so… I am a little bit of everything, right? So, my music has to correspond to that as well. So I had a little bit of pop country, a little bit of rock, a little bit of the traditional-esque type of stuff. And I’m really excited for everyone to hear it!

What’s the kind of the writing process like for you?

No, I had a rule for this record that I had to have at least 50% written or co-written by me. We’re at that level, we’re at the 50% right now. The rest are pitches, the last couple songs there that we put out. But a good song is a good song, you know!

Coming from the rock world more than the country world, it’s such an interesting thing for me to look at all the writing rounds and pitching songs and all this kind of thing. Because you don’t really have that in rock. It’s really, it’s a cool kind of community it’s found.

Yeah, it’s really interesting. Like you said, comparing rock to country. In country, you can have a whole career singing other people’s songs. Look, look at George Strait. He’s the best example. He knew how to sell it, and knows how to pick good songs!

I read that you came from a kind of musical background and family, right?

Yes, yes. My father; he’s a three-time Canadian fiddle champion. I grew up playing with my family band. They were called the Vanishing Breed Band. My dad still has that band together. They play every once in a while, way up in Northern Canada there.

I assume that’s probably kind of influenced your songwriting as well in some respects.

Yeah, yeah, it influences a lot, especially this new batch of songs I’ve been writing! But we can talk about that part in another date. I’m getting ahead of myself!

To be fair I was going to ask if there was more writing going on already!

Yeah, I wrote about 20 songs on my own, solid songs. And I’m really excited for people to hear it. I might… maybe I’ll start this fall!

Do you have a favorite track or two from the album?

There’s a song on there called called ‘Hell If I Know’. It’s being released on the day the album comes out. I wrote that song with my one of my good buddies Walker Tompkins out of Fort St. John, BC. That’s more of a rock-y one, more heavy.

Have you got a busy rest of the year planned touring to support the album?

As of right now, only have the, the few dates. I got Country Thunder next week, on the 26th, which is exciting, that’s going to probably be one of the bigger stages I’ve ever played. And I get to share the stage with some great artists. I’m really excited to share the stage with Nolleene Hoffman, Red Clay Strays… Cameron Whitcomb’s playing.

What’s it like to be a Canadian country artist? Over here, we still very much associate country with the South of the US, but it’s such a big thing out there as well!

Well, we have a lot of different influences. Canada has their own styles going across all the provinces. East Coast, they have more of fiddle-infused music. And out here in Alberta, it’s mostly… they have like Western influences. But all across the board, we’re all individually different. There’s a lot of different country rock groups, traditionalists, pop country acts, all over the country. It’s hard to pinpoint the exact type of sub-genre of country music that Canada is, because we’re all all over the place.

I’ve chatted to a good few Canadian country artists over the years. Most recently I think was Julian Taylor. The fact that he’s transitioned from the rock world into this really rootsy Americana thing kind of shows the variety you can get!

The thing about it there, coming back to your question, cuz there’s so many different artists. You got people like Nolleene Hoffman, for example, more in the traditional folk style music, for what it comes to the songwriting.
Colter Wall, he’s another traditionalist, cowboy singer. And then you get the other people that are more the pop-rock side, like Dallas Smith. But I’m a little bit mixed up of all of it!

I feel like it’s almost easier than ever now to be able to blend a bunch of different styles, as well. Like everyone’s kind of drawing influence from everywhere, which is cool!

What I really appreciate with country radio, Canadian country radio, is that they’re starting to introduce the more traditional side of country music, finally. They’ve always had it in the States. It’s never went away because they have so many people and so many stations, right? So they they have the ability to play that type of music. But now they’re playing it here too. Now we have guys like Jade Eagleson and he’s huge, and he’s a really great traditionalist country music artist.

Have you got any hopes to come to the UK any time soon?

Well, if they ever want me to go play country to country, I’ll do that one! That’d be, that’d be a fun festival. Yeah. I always like seeing the lineup for that one. It keeps getting bigger and bigger!

Interviews & Features

Madska: ‘I think it represents a taste of the many musical directions we are excited to continue to explore!’

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We chatted to the awesome US alt rockers about their upcoming EP, the Philly music scene and their plans for the future! Check it all out below!

How would you describe your sound?

Our sound is definitely evolving, I’d say it currently lands somewhere between alternative rock/pop with a sprinkle of jazz influence. This EP is definitely transitional, moving from our first record which was more straightforward indie, toward something with a bigger sound.

You’ve dropped two singles so far off the upcoming EP, are we set to hear any more of it before it drops?

Yes! We have two more!! One is the title track of the EP “More Than Dramatic,” and the other is called “Basement”.

Is there a certain theme or story around the EP? Or is it more individual stories per track?

I’d say there isn’t a very direct theme, but each song hints at sorting through complicated emotions or circumstances in a balanced way. I’m neither a half-glass-empty nor a half-glass-full type of person, I think each song asks the listener (and myself when I was writing them) to hold both the bad and the good of the situation and make decisions based from that place.

What is the writing process like for the band?

These songs happen to be ones I (Maddy) wrote mostly alone several years ago, but never brought to fruition. Bringing these songs to Sean and Gabe was such a lovely experience because they were able to help me arrange them exactly the way I heard them in my head, but better.

Do you have a favourite track from the EP?

I’d say “Medusa” or “More Than Dramatic”. Medusa is the oldest song on the EP (I wrote it in 2018/2019), so being able to finish it was such a healing experience. “More Than Dramatic” is actually a re-imagining of the song “Goonies” from our first record, “The Big Splash”. Gabe and Sean were just playing around one evening on drums and keys and we realized Goonies wanted a reinterpretation. It sounds completely different, I like to think of it as Goonies all grown up.

What went into the decision to put out an EP over another album? 

This is the first project that Sean, Gabe, and I collaborated on. We’ve been playing as a band live for a couple years now, but wanted to put something out that represents not only our live sound, but how we’ve progressed since The Big Splash. I think it represents a taste of the many musical directions we are excited to continue to explore.

Do you have a busy rest of the year planned with live shows to promote the release?

We are playing The BBQ on Aug 28-29, a festival in Ithaca NY that is hosted by our friends in New Planets and are very excited about that. Otherwise, we’re planning to host an EP release show sometime in the fall.

What do you make of the state of the scene at the minute?

I think the music scene, especially in Philly where we are, is so vibrant. It’s truly a lovely and constantly growing community and I feel very lucky to have so many creative friends who just want to play and listen to music. I also think that it’s extremely hard to know the right direction to take as an artist. The constant pressure to promote oneself and the landscape of AI taking over so many creative spaces can be really demoralizing. I think it’s important to just stay grounded in the actual practice of making art, whether or not it’s for outside consumption. Do it for you! At least that’s what I tell myself 🙂

Do you have a dream tour lineup you’d want to be a part of? Anyone you want to support or friends you want to bring with you?

Hayley Williams, Blondshell, DellaXOZ, Lizzy McAlpine, Big Thief, Rachel Chinouriri, Abby Holliday, Now Now….. All these artists I look up to so much.

If you could have written one song from history, what would it be and why?

I really wish I could’ve written ‘Born for Loving You’ by Big Thief. That song just feels like I’ve known it my whole life even though it came out only a couple of years ago. There’s something about Adrianne Lenker’s writing that transcends time!

Interviews & Features

Beyond Salvation: ‘It is kind of quite a team effort, but it’s also very DIY!’

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We chatted to the amazing Beyond Salvation the other week about their debut album, their live schedule and the state of the scene. Check it all out below!

Your album was released just over a week ago now [at the time of recording]. What’s it like to finally have your debut out?

Arun: Yeah, it’s pretty special. It’s kind of something we’ve been working towards for a long time. We do this in our spare time and we do it when we can, but it’s a labour of love. It is something we took a lot of care and a lot of attention over and we’re really, really proud of it. And so to finally have it out in the world is pretty special, actually. I stayed up until midnight and like went on Spotify and Amazon Music and waited for it to sort of come out. And it was like, oh, wow, it’s all there!

John: It’s quite surreal, actually. We’ve been working on this for a long time. And we always knew it would take… I don’t know… I felt like we felt that sort of like stereotypical, ‘we’re going to put an album out and it won’t take that long’. And then it took forever. But there’s been loads of good reasons why. And we’ve done releases in between. And I think then that sort of summed up this testament to how strong we feel about these songs; because we wrote these songs a long time ago. And I just love writing new stuff all the time. So for me, especially when I’m always writing stuff in the background, to still be so convinced of these songs that have lived with us for a bit, it makes me feel the flip side to what I’d usually be. Like, really convinced they are the songs they should be and sit together and just dead, dead, dead proud of it. And it’s like, I feel like it’s a bit like a tattoo, a real timestamp over the last five years of what we’ve been through.

It’s a passion project, isn’t it? And we’ve had line-up changes. If you take the very first song, ‘Incarcerate’, that’s with our old drummer, old bass player, which is mental. And then, yeah, that ended up being a single! So, yeah, a relief in a most positive way possible!

What went into the decision to do an album?

Arun: I actually think the reason we chose to do it as an album was actually artistic, so it was us, because if you look at our history kind of up to now, we’ve always released singles and EPs and, you know, we’ve done loads of those sorts of things. But we didn’t want to break this block of songs up. Like, there have been conversations between me and John about splitting the album into two and releasing it as two EPs or dropping a single here or there. But we feel really strongly about the album and it flows, particularly when I think the lyrics started being penned by John. The story it was telling… it’s not a concept album, but it is conceptual in its sort of flow. We didn’t really want to break that up. But I think it is just the strength of the songs. We just felt, no, these songs need to come out together as a block, as an album.

And although we’re told that the industry does push us towards singles and EPs and the frequency from the listener’s point of view, I think, from the other side, albums are still preferred. And again, maybe we’ve got a bit of an old school mindset in that. If I see a new song come out by a band, ‘I’m like, oh, that’s great. Right, when’s the album out?’ It’s still a bit of a stamp in time. Maybe that’s a little bit more of a metalhead way of thinking as well!

I’ve noticed it does feel like it’s a little easier to get a tour and do the festival circuit when you have an album as opposed to just the odd track.

John: Yeah, definitely. I think if I checked out a band that they hadn’t got an album that I could just invest in, I’d be a bit like, really? So, it still ticks that box for me. But, that’s me. It’s just constantly not trying to constantly say, oh, is it because I’m old? It’s just like, it’s a good body of work, you know, it’s a good way to get a good cross-section of a band. I’m not dissing singles or EPs at all. I think they’re great. They’re a great way to kind of dip your toe in. But I think particularly in metal, there is that thing of people like to invest and immerse themselves in the music. I would have a guess that probably doesn’t happen in R&B. I don’t know. Maybe it does. But, you know, particularly in metal, there is that sort of thing.

What’s the writing process like for you guys? Has it evolved as new members have joined?

Arun: There’s a general framework. Basically songs start either from John or from me. And they usually start with riffs. And often, like me and him, we’ll tend to sit back and forth between us. It’ll either be a verse idea or a chorus idea or something from me or from him. And then we’ll send it to the other person. That might spark some ideas. We’ll send it back, send it back. And we’ll sort of put a very rough but not final at all structure together just in a demo just so we can listen to it. And then we’ll send it on to the band. And then we’ll bring it into the room and the guys will have their ideas. Bringing Owen on board, he’s got some really good ideas for grooves and things that will lift certain parts in certain ways, which John and I don’t think of because we’re not drummers. So there’s definitely ideas from them. Sometimes we find the recording process can be a bit creative as well. We’ll sometimes, you know, we won’t change structures necessarily, but how something’s played or whether a fill goes in a certain place, for example, might change depending on when we record it. So, it is kind of quite a team effort, but it’s also very DIY.

Do you guys have a favourite track from the album?

John: Like you say, you’ve had them for a few years in the chamber now, so it might have changed since you first wrote them. I also had the reactions to the songs and people doing, like, little top threes really, really cool and really interesting. And it being really, like, quite broad, like, it seems to have been, like, a really different mix, which is really cool. So, that kind of spreads it across the album. And then, I think, I don’t know, emotionally attached, I’ve got a different, probably, stance because there’s lyrics in there, aren’t there? And they’ve changed and developed over time. And I think I’ve written some songs in the past where I’ve written them about someone else. And then you fast forward two years and suddenly realise I’m relating them to even more than when I wrote them about a friend or a loved one or something like that. And that’s happened on numerous occasions. The single we put out called Aftermath is a really good example of that, but that’s definitely happened on a few of these. So, yeah, I don’t know, but I think if I had to pick one for me, I think it’d just be the final nail. Like, it’s that kind of sad but true sort of groove, headbang, but it still goes fast and heavy.

Arun: for me, I think it really depends what day you ask me, because it’ll be almost a different song every day. But if I had to pick just one, it’d probably be Broken Reflections. But I’m also very, you know, I really like The Storm. The Storm means a lot. I think that’s quite a good indication of where we might be going. Yes, I think. And it was quite collaboratively written, which I quite like as well. that song is quite a few people picked up on that. And I feel like at the moment it’s not one of the singles, so it’s not been one that’s pushed in people’s faces. So the few of the people that have checked out the album for them to zone in on that song is quite cool.

Do you have a busy rest of the year show-wise in support of the album?

Arun: Yeah, we’ve got a few. So the main thing that we’re pushing quite a lot is on the 18th of July, we’re doing what’s essentially an album launch show. And it’s kind of the closest thing to an evening with Beyond Salvation. But what we’re doing is we’re playing the entire album in full from start to finish. And then some old songs at the end as well. So that’s the one we want to push the most. Yes. But aside from that, we are doing a few shows around the country. we had to take a conscious decision to go, right, we’ve got to fucking stop gigging. Yeah. We’re going to get this album finished. that’s been something that we’ve not done much of. So hopefully it’ll all work out like a perfectly oiled machine. We’ve got this album. We can push that. We’re going to be dotting around the country with some great bands.

John: What’s going to be really cool about the gigs this year. So until this point, we’ve constructed sets in a certain way with, as any band does, which is largely from your released music and particularly with what you’re promoting at the time. Live, we have played Incarcerate a few times, not since we released it as a single. We played it back in 2021, actually. But we haven’t really played any other song off the album live before. We didn’t want to fall into that trap of like just playing new stuff and getting excited about it and then no one can buy it. But actually, when we start writing sets for the gigs coming up, we’re going to be primarily, it’s going to be new for us, actually, because, you know, we’re going to have to write new sets that we’ve not done before.

What do you guys make of the music scene in the UK at the minute?

John: I think we’re spoiled in Manchester because it’s brilliant! I was talking COVID. It’s quite weird now because it’s half a decade ago. But like, the band started like four or five years before COVID. And it was interesting to come back after COVID and then suddenly you’ve got this like whole fresh generation younger bands suddenly coming out and feeling like they’re already like, Tortured Demon would be a really obvious example. But yeah, I think Manchester genuinely were like pretty spoiled because a lot of the gigs get a really, really good turnout for like an underground scene. So that’s really nice. And then broader… I don’t think we’ve had good gigs. We’ve had iffy gigs. So it’s just one of those where I’m really, really intrigued, excited, curious to see what this back half of the year holds. But I mean, particularly with stuff like Metal to the Masses that happens around the country for Bloodstock that gets such a good reaction. I mean the Manchester Metal to the Masses final was the weekend just gone and was rammed from the second the doors opened. I also know that other ones around the country get really, really busy as well. I think I saw like one or two of them were sold out a couple of weeks before the finals, a couple of weeks before the actual date. It’s almost like are there more bands than fans now?! That’s got to be a good thing, right? Because it means more people want to have a go. More people are feeling inspired.

Arun: Also, I think these days, some of my very, very favourite bands are British. Not even just like, oh, I like it because they’re from the UK. Like, they’re genuinely some of my favourite music that I’ve listened to lately. I remember being a teenager growing up. I don’t want to name anyone, but it was all America bands that were like, the ones. Do you know what I mean? It just meant nothing really from the UK seemed to click with me at all. I would say growing up, obviously you had your UK pioneers, like your Judas Priest and your Black Sabbaths and stuff, but we were a little young for when they first came on the scene! But growing up, all my favourite bands were American, and quite a lot of them still are, but there are lots of really, really cool British bands. Everyone seems to, you know, kind of go along to each other’s gigs and everyone’s pretty supportive. And it’s, yeah, it’s quite a nice vibe at the minute.

You guys are quite up on the whole social media thing, any advice you could give to bands just starting out?

John: You’ve just got to do it! Arun’s more the daddy on this and the guys we’ve been working with from DC Sound Attack have been a massive help and stuff. But try and make it as fun as you can. But you know what, I have really fucking funny, happy, fond memories of just me and the guys trying to pull things together to try and get content together. So you know what, just be genuine, I think. Be yourselves and have fun with it. But unfortunately, it’s like a necessary evil.

Arun: Planning ahead actually works really well. And you know, we’re doing this for the music, so the music’s still got to be really good. You don’t want to let the music suffer because of the content you’ve got to create.

Interviews & Features

Dreamspy: ‘the songs themselves determine and dictate the sound.the songs themselves determine and dictate the sound!’

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We sat down to chat with Anssi Tamminen, brainchild of Dreamspy, about his sound, writing and future plans. Check it out below!

How would you describe your sound?

DreamSpy’s sound could be described quite simply as atmospheric rock. My music tends to create vivid imagery in the listener’s mind—at least that’s what many people have told me over the years. With guitars total absent from the mix, the synthesizers are given room and sonic spectrum to paint entire worlds.

The bass tone can be quite aggressive at times, but the synthesizers soften the overall sound considerably. Using an electric upright bass in this kind of music is also somewhat unusual; it’s an instrument that has been with me for nearly 30 years.

I vary my vocal delivery depending on the song, and I like to weave plenty of reverberant and heavily processed backing vocals into the mix. All in all, I think the songs combine a human, unpolished performance with mechanical elements. A kind of cyborg in its own unique way.

Is it ever daunting being a solo project? I assume you’ve been in bands before, how does it differ doing solo stuff?

Not at all—working solo is actually a lot of fun. 🙂

I have 25 years of experience playing in bands and have seen both the good and the bad sides of it. Even back then, I was the one writing the songs, while the rest of the band arranged and developed their own parts. I also led the band and was responsible for various other aspects of the project.
Now I do everything myself, which is certainly challenging, but also very interesting and rewarding.

You’ve just released your third album through the project. Would you say your sound has evolved much in compared to your debut?

Each album has its own distinct character, even though the basic building blocks have remained largely the same. With the second and third albums, I’ve always tried to introduce something new, mainly in the drum and bass departments. In the end, however, the songs themselves determine and dictate the sound. The three-year gaps between releases undoubtedly play a role as well.

Is there a particular story or theme of the album, or is it more on an individual track basis?

None of the albums have a unifying concept or theme. The lyrics mostly revolve around introspection and exploring the subconscious, though there are other subjects mixed in as well. But, all of the albums share an underlying sense of escapism.

It’s possible that the fourth album will be more cohesive, at least lyrically.

What is the writing process like for you?

I go through the bass riffs I’ve recorded on my phone. The riffs that groove well with the drum parts I’ve programmed make it to the next stage. A bass riff might end up as an intro, the foundation of a verse or chorus, or sometimes simply as inspiration for something else.

If I manage to develop an interesting vocal melody for a rough song idea, I usually end up finishing the track. The synthesizer parts are added last.

I handle the recording, mixing, and mastering myself.

Have you ever managed to play the stuff live? Would a tour be an end goal, if not?

I’ve thought about it and even experimented with it. On YouTube, you can find a “studio live” demo performance on the dreamspy616 channel where I demonstrate the “concept”.
As for live gigs, I’ve had my fill of them in the past. I don’t really feel any compelling need to get back into performing live.

If you could have written one song from history, what would it have been and why?

The world is full of great songs, but I can’t really put any single one on a pedestal like that. I’d rather keep chasing that one truly outstanding song of my own—the one I haven’t written yet! 🙂

Interviews & Features

Lorraine Lewis & Tony West: ‘It turned into quite the Barn Burner!’

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We sat down to Lorraine Lewis of Femme Fatale and Tony West of Blacklist Union to chat about their collaboration cover of ‘Jackson’, their upcoming tour supporting Faster Pussycat and the UK scene! Read it all below!

How did the track collaboration come about?

Lorraine: Back in December, Tony and I collaborated on the Tom Petty/Stevie Nicks “Stop Dragging My Heart Around” which will be released on Cleopatra Records. We had the best time working together! A friend of Tony’s said we should do “Jackson” by June & Johnny Cash. It resonated with us so we took the idea to Blacklist Union’s producer Chris Johnson and he said “hell yeah let’s do it”. Chris wanted to keep it traditional but Tony wanted it to have a Ramone’s, Social D vibe, and it was the perfect call. It turned into quite the Barn Burner!

What went into picking the song?

Lorraine: Really just listening to a friend, but it was Tony who knew it needed to go Punk Rock and he was right!

You’re touring together in September, have you done many shows together before?

Lorraine: Tony and I met October 26th 2025 at a mutual friend’s funeral, rock photographer Glen La Ferman. Tony likes to say “we put the fun in funeral” lol I know Glen would approve of the statement! So no, we’ve never done shows together although May 21, 2026 Blacklist Union played The Infamous Viper Room and I joined him for “Jackson” at the end of the night! It was well received. We had a blast and the crowd loved it!

I assume the song will make an appearance in the setlist on the tour?

Tony: Of course!!

Have you both been out to Europe before? How would you compare the scene compared to back home?

Lorraine: Tony and I were in London for Valentine’s day and I played the historic London Marquee back in the day. I will say the UK and London in particular, is glorious as far as rock and roll is concerned. It feels like the Sunset Strip back in the day. The fashion, the hunger for rock, the vibe in general is all about the rock. We were blown away to see so many rockers out and about in London, Camden, and Manchester and Birmingham. Love it! It’d beautiful to see. We saw Fozzy, at the Electric Ballroom and the crowd was nuts. It was beautiful to see all the fists in the air, people wearing the Fozzy t shirts and just having the best time. Rock and Roll is alive and well!

Lorraine, Femme Fatale are releasing a new album in August, what can you tell me about it? What’s it like hitting the studio again and putting out another album after all this time?

Lorraine: The album is produced by Steve Brown from Trixter Ace Freley fame. He’s a great friend and writer and I love working with him. We’ve collaborated on all of it and brought in some heavy hitters as far as musicians go. From Bumblefoot to Sean McNabb to Jason Sutter to Carmine Appice. There’s also a song co written with Tommy Henricksen from Alice Cooper’s band. It feels great to be creative and back in the studio but honestly I never left!

Tony, Slay the Dragon is nearly a year old. How has the last year been since it’s release?

Tony: It’s been great and I’m really proud of it!

Is there more writing going on already?

Tony: Yes! We’re already writing the 7th album called “The Good, the Bad and the Notorious”. We are 5 songs in so far. It’s going great!

Do you both have a dream tour lineup you want to be a part of, aside for the one in September, of course!

Tony: The Darkness, Eagles of Death Metal, Turbo Negro and anything that brings the rock. Preferably with friends.

Lorraine: I agree with Tony although, I’ll play any where any time. Preferably to a full house, there’s nothing better than that. There are definately some festivals I want to play like Wacken again and Rocklahoma for the first time.

If you could have written one song from history, what would it be and why?

Tony: ‘Happy Birthday’ so I could cash in!

Lorraine: ‘She Sells Sanctuary’ by The Cult because I lose my mind every time I hear it.

Interviews & Features

Ashen Horde: ‘Those were, our first-ever shows!’

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We chatted to the amazing Trevor Portz of the extreme(ish) metal band Ashen Horde! Check out as we chat about the bands sound, their latest album and dream tours!

How would you describe your sound?

While it’s a mouthful, I tend to go with progressive, blackened death metal… it’s more or less accurate. It’s probably easier to just say extreme metal, but I don’t feel like that gives enough detail to catch people’s attention! Ultimately, the motivation behind Ashen Horde has been to make metal music that doesn’t really conform to any single subgenre, but listing everything we incorporate takes it from “mouthful” to “stupidly verbose and pretentious,” haha.

You’re on album five now, how has your sound changed or evolved in the last 12 years since your debut?

As the primary songwriter, it’s kind of hard to say… I’m probably too close to it, and I just write whatever sounds right to me! I do feel like the songs have become a bit more cohesive and less disjointed, but depending on the reviewer, it’s clear that not everyone agrees! We’ve definitely incorporated more and more melody over the years, especially with the addition of Karl on lead vocals. He’s able to deliver all the harsh shrieks and gutterals, of course, but has an incredibly powerful singing voice that has allowed me to indulge in all sorts of new things. I’ve also leaned into making the solos more driven by melody than flash. I’m really not a shredder, so I’ve redirected my focus into writing memorable, melodic leads that contrast a bit with the more brutal or dissonant riffs elsewhere in the songs.

What is the writing process like for the band?

The music always comes first (minus a rare occasion when I have a cool title or line to inspire a song). I tend to write one of two ways: sitting with my guitar and messing with different chords and things certainly accounts for a good chunk of it. But almost more commonly, I’ll write when I’m just out and about. I like to jog, hike and bike, so I’ll often work through arrangements while I’m doing that. I actually do a lot of work in my head before I fall asleep at night, too. It’s a nice way to decompress. Of course, if I have a really cool idea that I don’t want to forget, I have to make the decision to get up and record it, or hope I remember it in the morning!

Do you have a favourite track from the album?

That’s tough… I think it changes pretty regularly. At this moment in time, I’d say it’s ‘Backward Momentum’. That one’s got some really interesting riffs, and I was very happy with how the clean vocals turned out. I’d been inspired to put cleans over the blast beats by Opeth’s “The Lotus Eater.” It goes a bit against convention, and I think it gave that track a really different vibe. The extended solo on there is also my favorite on the album. It was a pain in the ass to write and play, but I’m quite satisfied with it! I threw in some jazzy blue notes here and there to give it some added weirdness.

Busy year planned touring to support the release?

Compared to the past 12 years where we never toured, yes! But ultimately, it was a very small amount. We played a couple shows in May to support the album, but that’s it for now. Those were, in fact, our first-ever shows! But we are looking to do something longer for early next year. I think we’d all love to do it sooner, but other band commitments, day jobs and regular life have made it impossible…

Any plans/hopes to come over to the UK? 

That’s the dream! I was born in London, and have always been a bit of an Anglophile. I mean, my favorite band of all time is the Wildhearts. (While I’ve seen them live in New York a handful of times, it feels like a necessary pilgrimage to catch them (or any of the offshoots) in the UK.) So yes, if we can make it happen, I’d be beyond excited. I’d love to do a week where we just drive around and play all over the UK!

Do you have a dream tour lineup you’d want to be a part of? Anyone you want to support or friends you want to bring along with you?

For Ashen Horde, being first on a bill with Enslaved and Ihsahn (solo or with Emperor) would blow my mind. Throw in a reunited Immortal and I’d question my ability to breathe long enough to remember my own songs, haha! My other band, Abhoria, was fortunate enough to open for Abbath last year—when he did the Immortal-only set—so I do feel like I’ve had a taste of the dream… and I want more!

If you could have written one song from history, what would it be and why?

This answer would probably change based on the day or even my mood, but at this moment in time, I’ll say ‘Fell on Black Days’ by Soundgarden. That is a damn-near perfect song, and I would love to write something that hits me that hard every time I hear it.

Interviews & Features

Suburban Legends: ‘You get to meet people, like, wonderful people that are very committed to the culture!’

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We chatted to the horns section of Suburban Legends, Brian, Chris and Aaron, at their show in Nottingham last week. Check it all out below as we talk about their UK tour, back home and the state of the industry!

How’s the tour been so far? It’s four or five days in now, right?

Yeah, four, five dates. This is day six. So we’re halfway through.

Chris: We’ve hit it, it’s the midpoint! You’ve seen us hit the crest, it’s all downhill from here!

Aaron: want to say the first show out the gate was awesome! We haven’t played… Brian lives in Japan, so the last time we played with him was 24? 23?

Brian: We played together last year, the acoustic gigs.

Aaron: yeah but the last show that we did together, I think it was the 25th anniversary two years ago!

So when you’re saying, how the tour is, we kind of put a lot of pieces together that were kind of array, and we fit it all in last second. We did one rehearsal in a backyard pub and we just did it. And it felt fun! It felt exciting. It felt like a reunion of friends. So every single show, varying degrees of people coming, but it’s all been great audiences, great guests, and great fun with our friends. So, to answer your question, it’s awesome!

Chris: To speak more to that, it’s just like, yeah, we can all spend so much time apart from each other. But also, we get together so well that the shows just kind of come together.

What brought you guys back over? I know you mentioned you did the acoustic tour last year!

Chris: We were contractually obliged.

Brian: Promises made and promises kept.

Aaron: Out of all the places we tour, the UK is by far the best. By far the friendliest. And I think when I wasn’t at the acoustic tour last year, but it was a tester to see if people still remember. And people still wanted to come out! So the test worked and we made it happen with a full band.

Because it’s been… it was a while before that, right?

Chris: Seven years!

Aaron: 2018 was the time prior.

There’s a couple of shows announced for back home too this year too, right?

Brian: Yeah, we’ve got the Supernova ska festival coming up! That’s in September.

Aaron: Other than that, there’s nothing else scheduled at the moment. I know that people are always hitting us up for stuff, but it’s about… everyone has a job, everyone has a feeling, everyone has a thing. So it’s about getting everybody together. Besides this tour, we’ve only played three times this year so far. Like one in February and then we did two Disneyland dates. Cause we perform at Disneyland.

How would you compare the scene over here compared to back home?

Chris: Man, it’s like, out here, it’s very DIY, it’s very energetic, it’s very fun. It’s very community driven, which is really fun to witness and also kind of be a part of at the same time. Because we get to come over here, we get to play with all these wonderful bands that are also a part of the scene. You get to meet people, like, wonderful people that are very committed to the culture. And you get to see the little local pockets of it, like, all up and down the island. So it’s really wonderful, comparatively. Like, it’s harder, I think, for us to have that in the States because everything is so just like spread out. There’s a level of density that happens out here where you have, like these nice little pockets of things that are happening.

Brian: Plus, we’re just not as active as we used to be. We’re not out there, like, hustling like we used to, where it’s like everything that was offered, we’ll take it. You know what I mean? When we were really in the scene, like in the States and in California, we were playing a bunch and playing with all the other bands. But now it’s like we play occasionally and it’s like sort of like…

Aaron: Most of the time it’s at Disneyland, and that in itself is a different culture, a different scene. So we have like a foot in two different scenes, you know what I mean? And locally we can only play maybe one or two times a year so that people get excited about it. You don’t want to oversaturate it. Especially when we play Disneyland.

I assume you change the setlist up for the Disneyland shows?

Aaron: Yeah, more covers, and lyric changes too!

Chris: It’s a different kinda show.

Brian: And sometimes we forget that when we, like, from place to place, we’re like, oh, we gotta like shift gears, that’s right, it’s this type of show now!

Aaron: Sometimes we’re opening for a band, we only have like a 25 minute, 30 minute set. And the things that we do at Disneyland we cannot do in that 25 minutes because we gotta play as much music as possible.

I’ve seen there’s been a couple of singles out over the last few years or so, is there any sort of writing going ahead, any urge to release stuff?

Aaron: Being creative is about flowing the flow. I think there’s things and there’s things that are around, but are they recorded? No. Is it gonna happen? Maybe. Literally, if Vince was here, who, like, leads all that, he would just say, ‘well, I don’t know’, but. But the answer is, yeah, there’s always work. There’s always creativity going on.

Chris: There are so many projects and there’s stuff going on, but yeah, you know, it’s all just kind of in the vault.

Brian: There’s probably at least five or six projects that we started and never completed. There’s lots of starts and stops. But all that stuff still exists. It’s just whether or not we want to like, okay, let’s start that again!

How did the whole Disney thing come about? Did you start playing there before doing the covers?

Aaron: We started playing at the park. We had one Disney cover that. It was Gummy Bears. And I don’t know why we did it. I don’t know how we decided to do it. It wasn’t great, but people loved it! When we started playing at Disneyland a long, long time ago, we just assumed we were playing all original songs. Yes, maybe we did a ska cover of ‘I Will Survive’. It was wild! We realized people are coming to see us, but there’s a lot of people there that have never seen us before. And if you’re gonna come in and you’re gonna watch a band, hook them with a cover and then play a couple originals. So eventually we started just going, okay, we’ll do another Disney song. Another Disney song. Another Disney song. Just because we’re also Disneyland and we also love Disneyland.

Is it hard getting a ska arrangement of something like a Disney song together?

Aaron: I don’t know. We’re the horn players, so, I mean…!

Chris: It’s not terribly complicated. A lot of these arrangements really lend themselves to it. Ska isn’t particularly hard to, like, write into the existing arrangements. For example, we did ‘Whole New World’, and I think that was kind of the greatest departure, but also stays really true to the arrangement. But we wrote an entirely new tone around the intro. that’s kind of the furthest we’ll go because we still want it to be familiar. We still want it to be fun. Thankfully, working into, like, the genre of ska, it kind of lends itself to the energy and the upbeat arrangements that we choose.

You guys are pretty up on social media when on tour. Do you have any advice for bands breaking into the scene in that regard?

Chris: You want to have one person who is just constantly aware of the moments that can take place while you’re on the road that are both organic and fun.

Aaron: It’s a full-time job. I mean that’s why social media managers are full time jobs. You get a degree in and all that stuff. It takes a lot of time. So advice: get somebody to come with you. Maybe a merch that can film while you were actually doing your art and stuff. A social media manager who also is cool with selling T shirts. You know, so maybe an 18, 19, 20 year old that knows what people like. Because we also don’t know what people like!

Honestly, I think the thing to talk about is Spotify. How you release music, that’s more important than social media. Punk Rock Factory I think is a great example of social media. They’re not touring as a lot but they have their, their studio set up where it looks rad behind them. They got the actual lights and they film their song. They cut it up into five different reels and then they release it and they schedule it out and that’s how they’re getting listens on Spotify and views on YouTube and that’s how they’re getting people coming to their shows.

It’s the niche, Right. You can’t just plop whatever you want on the Internet. You have to just kind of pick a lane. I think with us, the route that we’re going with this tour is just the storytelling of touring. We don’t play a lot, so we don’t make social media content a lot. So if we’re out here doing stuff, we want to just make sure people can see the story of, like, oh, yeah, this is what it’s like to be in the UK with this American band.

But Spotify, that’s the thing to talk about, because growth. Spotify has an algorithm. How do you release music these days? And it’s not albums. It’s singles, and it’s consistent singles that you do at a consistent basis.

Chris: And it’s an entirely different game to play than what we had been used to doing, which was like, you know, you write an album or you write an EP, you record the album or EP, tour on the album or the EP. There’s a cadence to that that’s much longer than, like, record singles, release singles. And it also, in tandem with that, took selling CDs out of our hands while we were on tour, which was, quite frankly, a large portion of our merch sales. For example, for this tour we didn’t roll with CDs. It’s too heavy, it’s too hard to ship. Why print? Why bring them over? You know, because people aren’t gonna buy them because they have digital distribution now.

Do you have a dream tour lineup you’d want to be a part of? Anyone you haven’t played with yet or friends you want to bring on the road with you?

Chris: That’s a really good question!

Brian: Yeah, it’s not really in our mind any more! We don’t tour much so we don’t think about it much!

Chris: Like, at this point, I feel like the people that we want to tour with are the people that we’ve already toured with that we know that we enjoy touring with. We enjoy touring with real big Fish. We enjoy touring with Less Than Jake. Like, people that are our friends that we know. When you show up to tour, it’s like you’re showing up to the same summer camp. Everyone is just already cool with each other.

Aaron: That’s the answer!

Chris: Exactly. We want to tour with our friends and have a good time.

I’ll answer the question as it’s intended… I would love to be able to go to Japan and tour with Tokyo Ska Paradise.

Aaron: Oh my god that would be amazing!

Chris: It would be so much fun. But Scott doesn’t know about us. But that would be a really fun tour to do!

Interviews & Features

Idolvein: ‘We have a pretty ridiculous bank of demo tracks!’

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We had the pleasure of chatting to the amazing alt-metallers Idolvein about their recent single output and their tour! Check it all out below!

How would you describe your sound?

Pretty eclectic really. Whilst we always aim for something catchy that’s going to separate us from the next band, we’ve written various tracks across the rock and metal spectrum. We’ve ranged from some frenetic tech metal, synth-led style material to some more post-hardcore/hard rock style tracks too. Our latest single even takes a lot of influence from blues guitarists and some soundtrack style stuff, so we never feel particularly compelled to limit ourselves to a specific sound.

You dropped “Where We Became Spirits” nearly a year ago, how has it been since then?

It’s been good! The tracks on that EP were really just a way of us establishing our sound and the overall aesthetic we’ve wanted to use to present this project. Since then, we’ve tried to build upon what we started with those songs, creating a diverse group of singles that are releasing throughout 2026.

You also just dropped a new single the last couple of weeks, right? “Enrapture Me” seems to be doing really well!

Thank you very much! The response has been great so far and people seem to be enjoying the change-up in vibe. Whereas our first single this year “Today’s the Day I Die” somewhat bridged the gap between last year’s EP and the sound we’re starting to develop now, this latest track feels like a bit of a standout because it’s a lot different to what we’ve previously released. Whenever we’ve played it at a show, it’s tended to grab attention as it usually tends to be the most atmospheric song on the night and feels pretty unexpected at a metal show.

Is more writing still going ahead now?

With the recording of all this year’s planned releases now complete, it is something we’re  beginning to start actively looking at again. We have a pretty ridiculous bank of demo tracks that’ll likely be worked on further, plus we often have new riffs and ideas circulating between us all the time. It probably won’t be too long until we’re starting to consider the next step with recording more material.

What is the writing process like for the band?

Historically, it’s started with either Jack or Caelan bringing some form of instrumental track to the table in the form of a demo. This then gets shaped and potentially restructured by whatever vocal parts come next, then it’s a collaborative effort between everyone to finalise their parts before the song’s recorded in the studio. There are obviously exceptions to the rule where someone may take the lead on putting pretty much everything together, but usually it’s a little more collaborative.

Had quite the run of shows already, right? I saw some photos from both Derby and Notts, looked like great gigs!

They were good fun! Those were our first two shows of the year. In Nottingham we opened for WREX alongside Ruena, who both put on an amazing show. In Derby we celebrated the release of our first single of the year, so that was cool as well. We brought along an Idolvein branded Costco cake for everyone to chomp on too, so that definitely helped bring the vibes.

Busy rest of the year planned in terms of shows? Saw the co-headline with Endscape, how was it?

That was a great tour! We had a lot of fun playing alongside those guys and we hope to see them on another show soon. Later this month we’ve got shows in Cheltenham with Black Orchid Empire and Mansfield with Syncolima, both of which we’re very excited for, plus a tour in July with our friends in Infirm of Purpose. There’s some more stuff planned for later in the year too which hasn’t been announced just yet. It’ll be an exciting rest of the year!

What do you think of the state of the scene currently?

It’s a tough one because there’s so many great bands out there, plenty of which we ourselves  have been fortunate to play with at this point, but the nurturing of both live and original music has dwindled so much over time that a lot of bands are struggling to justify the time, effort and resources required. We’ve thankfully managed to land on a pretty cohesive group where we’re all looking to move in the same direction, but even a strong collective can struggle when the current landscape so heavily favours the soulless pursuit of social media acknowledgement in  place of artistic integrity. That also doesn’t begin to factor in the growing number of AI tracks finding their way onto platforms and generating horrifically large numbers of streams from unknowing listeners.

With that said though, there’s enough talent in the scene, plus support from publications like yourselves to help overcome the growing challenges and turn the tide!

Do you have a dream tour lineup you’d want to be a part of? Anyone you’d want to support or friends you’d want to bring along?

The obvious heavy hitters right now would be touring with bands like Bring Me the Horizon and Bad Omens, but it’d be cool to have some sort of all over the place all day event. Us and Endscape can open up the day, then Giant Walker, Lowlives and The Five Hundred, probably Philip Sayce to bring some blues licks, after that Novelists, Bilmuri, Meshuggah, Bring Me the Horizon and John Mayer, then Tate McRae to end the night with some pop vibes. Stylistically very cohesive, of course…

If you could have written one song from history, what would it be and why?

Probably whatever’s got the highest streaming numbers right now. We could use the royalties to fund some more stuff for the band and record more of our music! Otherwise though, something like ‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World’’s always a good shout. Generational tune.

Thanks very much for taking the time to interview us! We always appreciate anyone who takes an interest in our band. If you’d ever like to hear some previews of our upcoming tracks or projects we have coming up, please email us at deceivedaudio@gmail.com. We’d be more than happy to share new stuff for any early access reviews, interviews, etc. Thanks again!

Caelan, Ryan, Oli and Jack – Idolvein