THE FELL’s lineup brings together some of the best in the industry: dynamic vocalist Toby Rand (Juke Kartel, Rockstar: Supernova, AshenMoon), legendary bassist Billy Sheehan (Mr. Big, David Lee Roth, The Winery Dogs), acclaimed multi-platinum producer/guitarist Mike Krompass (Smash Mouth, Dead Romantic, Nelly Furtado, Everybody Loves An Outlaw), and explosive drummer Nick Chiarore (Steve Vai, Slash, Dead Romantic).
Now, the modern rock powerhouse are pleased to share they’re heading out for their first U.K. headline tour together this autumn. The 10-date stint will include 2 festival appearances and 8 headline shows across the country.
THE FELL UK Tour Dates:
Fri 27th Nov – TROON Winterstorm *
Sat 28th Nov – PORTHCAWL Planet Rockstock *
Tue 1st Dec – BRISTOL Thekla
Wed 2nd Dec – SOUTHAMPTON The 1865
Thu 3rd Dec – MANCHESTER Band On The Wall
Sat 5th Dec – LONDON Downstairs at The Dome
Sun 6th Dec – NORWICH Waterfront Studio
Tue 8th Dec – NEWCASTLE The Grove
Wed 9th Dec – LEEDS Brudenell Social Club
Thu 10th Dec – WOLVERHAMPTON KK’s Steel Mill
* festival date
Tickets go on sale tomorrow (Friday 26th June) @ 10am (BST) and are expected to go quickly, so don’t miss them!
On the string of dates, guitarist and founding member Mike Krompass enthuses:
“We’ve been eagerly anticipating this moment for a long time. The U.K. has always held a special place in our hearts, and finally bringing The Fell to our first U.K. festival shows and headline run is incredibly exciting. We’re thrilled to see familiar faces, meet new fans, and deliver a show to remember.”
THE FELL draw their name from Old English, where ‘fell’ meant a rugged highland or mountain. Rooted in Celtic heritage, it speaks to their shared backgrounds. It’s a symbol of enduring strength, untamed spirit, and the peaks they climb together in music and in life.
Fusing soaring vocals, elite musicianship, and massive, modern rock production, THE FELL deliver hard-hitting, emotionally charged anthems that connect with fans across generations. Their sound is both cinematic and immediate, anchored in timeless rock energy but elevated by contemporary edge and sonic depth.
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! 🙂
The last day of the festival kicked into high gear immedialy with Kublai Khan TX. The new kings of hardcore brought the heavy and swagger right from the moment they stepped on stage, and had a surprisingly long set filled with bangers. Matt is such a good frontman, making everything from his growls to his interactions look so effortless and cool. The rest of the band very much give it their all though, putting on a show enough to match. The setlist was great too, a full 12 tracks of attitude and brutality. And the crowd were all for it, even at barely midday, throwing down and shouting back to the band at Matt’s every command. I am already desperate to see the band again, hopefully in a smaller, more intimate setting, but I’m shocked that even seeing a band like this on a stage as big as this was so good! What a way to shake off the cobwebs and start the day off with a bang!
Next up was the legend that is Mammoth. Another one that we’ve seen once or twice at Graspop, not only do Wolfgang and co. keep growing more each year, but they somehow keep getting even better, too! I was a big fan of their album last year, and to hear a good chunk of it live was awesome! Honestly, it was just a really great set to sit and chill out in the sun to after a busy weekend (and the madness of Khan). I don’t really have much else to say about it other than it was fantastically good hard rock music, and if you’re into that you should absolutely go and see them ASAP!
Over in the Avalanche tent we saw one of my new favourite bands next in The Pretty Wild. Sisters Jyl and Jules are absolute powerhouses not just on track but on stage too, and their band absolutely back that up in a massive way. The sheer talent of both of their vocals is off the charts, but the fact that they can sing and scream like that while also putting on the performance like that is honestly phenomenal. The setlist was perfect, giving us the very best of their album and single stuff, and actually felt like the best possible length (though I’d have happily taken another ten minutes, honestly). They already had one of my favourite albums of last year, and now on top of that they have one of my favourite sets of this year! I already can’t wait to see them again, we need a headline UK/EU tour next year please!
Bloodywood absolutely tore apart main stage next. I’d only seen them the once before, and I think the sound quality played a big part in me being ever so slightly let down by the set. This more than made up for that instance. For once they got the sound right on the main stage; this hit hard and loud in all the right places. And you could tell too, as the crowd popped OFF throughout. And while I do still think they talk a little too much between tracks, I know a lot of people are into that, and they were certainly saying some great stuff. On top of that, it was another perfect set, giving us the very best of their two albums. They are still such a unique and interesting sound, it makes it impossible not to get on board with it, and the fact that they very much bring it live too makes it even better. I was always a fan, but this definitely won me over to the band in an even more massive way. Another band I need to see again like yesterday.
After that were The Pretty Reckless. Another band that it’s been almost a decade since I’d last seen, and it’s kinda sad that in all that time, they haven’t gotten much better live. I’m sorry y’all, I just don’t get it. And still, I find it hard to put my finger on exactly why that is. The band are all talented, and Taylor has a great live voice. She’s not the best front-person in the world, but I’ve certainly seen worse, and from bigger artists. I think that might be it though; they throw their weight around like they are the biggest band in the world. They drag everything out so much, stretching their 10 track setlist by easily 10 minutes than the studio versions to make everything interractable. Don’t get me wrong, they have some damn good songs, but I hate to say that if it wasn’t for Momsen being the face of the band, I don’t think they’d be nearly as big as they are if they had the same tracks still. She’s a rockstar through and through, standing out among an industry now of more clean-cut, calmer musicians, but I’m not sure that’s necessarily a good thing. They’re certainly good, and I know that their fans there loved it, but I sadly kinda found myself thinking ‘just get on with it’.
Social Distortion didn’t have nearly a big enough crowd on the Opus stage. They definitely had some stiff competition from the other stages, but the punk legends don’t venture over here all too often, and just put out a banger of a new album, they deserved more love! They still sound great live too, even with Mike’s recent health issues. However, while I did dig the new album stuff, I have to say as my first time seeing them, I was a little let down they didn’t do literally anything off their massive, self-titled album. It’s what got me into the band all those years ago, and I was excited to finally hear some of it live. Clearly I just need to hear a longer set from them, as they sounded great and put on a good show, I just wanted more!
Possibly my favourite band at this point were up next, Ice Nine Kills. This was a weird one for me, honestly. We saw them back in Decemberand they were incredible! However, something here felt slightly off at times, though I’m 90% convinced it was the sound. The vocal mix, for once, was actually impeccable. I’ve never heard Ricky and Joe so loudly, and they filled in around Spencer excellently. However, and it’s the same complaint as I had all weekend, the main stage was just too damn quiet. They’re a heavy-ass metalcore band with pretty brutal breakdowns and almost death metal parts, yet we were at the first crowd-breaker and none of it really hit.
However, the band and the stage show of course killed it, just as always. A set packed full of incredible songs, be it off Welcome to Horrorwood, their recent singles or even a cheeky NOFX cover. Each one was complete with costume changes, props, extras and pyro, proving that they are truly one of the best live bands around today. I didn’t even mind that it was essentially the same set that we’d seen from them in the winter, because it’s all so good live and on track that it’s impossible not to love! Plus, Hannah Greenwood coming out to do Grace’s parts on ‘Twisting the Knife’ was amazing, she absolutely KILLED it all weekend (pun intended). It’s another case of if I was down the front, I’d have had even more fun, and it is a shame that the sound was so quiet that being further back had a big impact. But, even still, this was one of the best sets of the weekend!
After INK, we finally chilled out a bit. It was tetting warm and we couldn’t decide on who to see, so we kinda milled around, catching bits of whatever we fancied. Ash didn’t stand out to me much beforehand, and were simply fine live. We watched a bit of a meat smoking show, that was good fun and took me back to years of Long Roads. We caught the last two tracks of Mastodon, curious how they would sound without Brent. Honestly, I wasn’t digging it too much until ‘Crack the Skye’, and then that and ‘Blood and Thunder’ were excellent and I was really into it. They’ve never been the biggest band for me, but I’d happily see them again at another festival. Oh, and we popped up to Dogtooth early and caught the last few from the criminally underrated Spineshank. They killed it, and were honestly my biggest surprise of the weekend!
Creeper set two, Dogtooth tent. Now, I will happily hold my hands up and say that their packed out set at Trees the other yearis one of my favourite live music experiences of all time. And fuck, the boys (and Hannah) only went and did it again, didn’t they? There is something about Creeper in a slightly more intimate, darker venue that makes it somehow even better, and it helps that the crowd were all in right from the start. And, while we got a fair bit of the same stuff as Friday’s set, the extra 20 minutes certainly helped! ‘The Ballad of Spook & Mercy’ is one of my favourite tracks they’ve ever done, and hearing it live is always amazing. And to hear new tracks like ‘The Crimson Bride’ and ‘The Black House’ live was amazing, too. Heck, we even got the live debut of Sanguivore closing ballad ‘More Than Death’, which I never thought we’d ever get live. Will absolutely blew everyone away with it and, to absolutely no one’s shock, made the wife cry again.
Everything about the set was honestly perfect. The sound was great, the band performed masterfully, the crowd was packed in to the rafters with genuine fans and, outside of me maybe wanting an older track or two sneaking in again, the setlist was amazing. The band have very quickly made Download their home the last few years, and this capped off one hell of a weekend for them. Looking back, this may very well have been my favourite set of the weekend, maybe even of the year. Goddamn.
And with that, the final band of the weekend took to the stage. A lot has been made about Linkin Park finally being the first female fronted band to headline the festival, and honestly it’s about fucking time. However, and don’t kill me for saying this, I wasn’t really feeling the set. They played a massive set packed full of career spanning hits to a packed out crowd, a lot of whom seemed to be loving it. And the From Zero stuff, from ‘Two Faced’ to ‘IGYEIH’ and plenty in between, sounded awesome! However, as much as I wanted to enjoy the older stuff, Emily’s voice just isn’t cut out for it. She wasn’t awful at the Thousand Suns or ‘Burn it Down’, but anything from the early stuff didn’t hit at all for me. I felt nothing when she sung the Hybrid Theory or Meteora tracks; it was all very one-note with no real emotion there. It made it feel even more like a Mike cash grab than it did before. The stage show was interesting, though there was far too much down time between songs, and the chemistry between Mike and Emily on the rare times they did interact with the crowd felt forced. If you enjoyed it and it scratched that LP itch for you, that’s awesome, but it sadly did not do that for me. We left during ‘Numb’, it was just too sad.
Having a sunburnt, pregnant wife tagging along, we got in a touch later than hoped on the Saturday. However, we made it in for most of the amazing As Everything Unfolds on Opus, and what a way to start our day! The alt rock/metalcore rising stars owned the massive stage right from the jump, proving that they very much deserved to be up there. It’s crazy too, as they were originally supposed to be on the much smaller Dogtooth stage later on, but swapped with Drowning Pool because their flights were delayed. It proved to be a fantastic decision on both counts, as I think AEU got heaps of new ears and exposure from this move. Seeing ‘Gasoline’ live was awesome, as it’s become honestly one of my favourite tracks from this year so far. But the whole set was amazing, and the band played their asses off throughout!
Over to the Dogtooth tent for the first time of the weekend, we saw proggy, middle-eastern infused metal band Lowen. By far the quirkiest band for us of the weekend, it was damn interesting to watch. They were all insanely talented musicians, and I loved the video and images they had playing behind them, really adding to the atmosphere of it all. While it’s not typically my sort of style in a live environment, I had a good time watching them and have listened to them a few times on track since coming home. They are well worth seeing if you are into this side of metal music, and would honestly go down a storm in the European market! Nina has such an interesting voice and she fronts the band spectacularly, while the rest of the band back her up and make their wall of sound absolutely massive. They definitely have a new fan in me!
Over to the Apex stage, we caught emo-metal legends Black Veil Brides. The last time I saw them properly was here back in 2012. Back then, they were so hated they were getting bottles and mud balls hurled at them. The metal world has softened on them since then, and we’re fairly receptive to the band this time around! The crowd for them was pretty massive, and the front half were hanging on every note. However, something about it just didn’t land for me. Maybe it was because we were a touch further back and, for as big as the new main stage is, it isn’t very loud. Or maybe it was because they did a setlist primarily consisting of new tracks, bookended by a few classics. It’s not exactly a bad thing, and their fans certainly seemed to enjoy it, but it didn’t hook me in for too long, despite how talented the band all are.
Because of that, we instead headed over to see our friends, the mighty Those Damn Crows. It had already been too long since we’d last seen them, it being the very start of 2025. They were excellent at Winters End and, to the surprise of I’m sure no one, they were also excellent here! The bands sound and energy is built for huge festival stages like this at this point, and they put on the set to prove it. From ‘Find a Way’ to ‘Sin on Skin’, their awesome, extensive back catalogue was on full display. My only slight complaint is that we didn’t get much off their recent chart-topping album, God Shaped Hole. However, that was most likely because they didn’t have a huge amount of time. It just means that they’ll have to do a headline tour soon as well as the Shinedown support, so we can see a full set… Shane is a truly excellent frontman, getting the crowd going as well as coming across genuinely sincere and likeable. And the rest of the band played their asses off throughout, just as they always do. Another fantastic set!
Speaking of fantastic sets, Drowning Pool were up next. After their set-switch earlier in the day, they were now packed into the smaller Dogtooth tent, and I’d rarely seen a crowd as big trying to watch a band in there! The last time I’d seen the band was at Rescue Rooms when I was just a teenager, so to say I was hyped would be an understatement. Especially with the recent re-addition of Ryan back at the front! He sounded better than he has in a few years too, I know he seemed to be struggling a little last time we saw him with Soil. We’ll get the elephant in the room out of the way first: they only had time for four songs. However, those four songs were all excellent, and brought me back to my youth in a big way. A Sinners-full set of the heaviest hitters from that album, and the crowd hung on every note. As a big ‘Mania X8 guy, ‘Tear Away’ will always be a huge song for me, and they played it amazingly on Saturday. Then, of course, sending the crowd home in a frenzy from the massive ‘Bodies’ was absolutely the right call, it being the main reason most were near that tent to begin with. I’m really hoping this means that they’ll be back sooner rather than later, and hopefully finally start getting more of the love they deserve in the UK. Too short, but an excellent set!
As we left the tent, we managed to catch the back half of Babymetal’s set. It once again wasn’t the first time we’d seen them, and while I once again enjoyed previous sets, this was by no means a bad one! We came over from the solos of ‘METALI!!’ onwards, and got treated to four more excellent songs after that! While I do still think Callboy do ‘RATATATA’ better live, it’s still a lot of fun to hear, especially two days in a row. And the one-two punch of ‘Headbannggerrr!!’ into ‘Road of Resistance’ to close was awesome! The trio put on such an amazing, energetic show between them, while they are backed by some truly awesome musicians, playing some incredible stuff. If you haven’t seen them live already, they are an absolute must!
After a brief changeover, Trivium took to the stage. The band have been a powerhouse live for over 20 years now, so it’s no surprise that this was also a storming set. Matt’s vocals are somehow better and more powerful than ever, and the bands cohesion and talent individually and as a group is incredible. You can really tell they still all really enjoy playing together. It was a classics/anniversary tour-heavy set, with the likes of ‘Gunshot to the Head’, ‘Dying in your Arms’ and ‘Down from the Sky’. As an almost life-long Trivum fan, it certainly tickled that itch. However, we had seen a similar set before. And, incase anyone hasn’t heard, I LOVEtheir last two albums, and to only get ‘Catastrophist’ off them was a little sad. Still, I get it, it’s a festival, so play the ones people know. I know they mentioned a tour for ’27, hopefully it’s near the release of their upcoming album and we get some stuff off it live this time! However, it’s a minor gripe really, as I did enjoy their set a hell of a lot! Each song was excellent and played to perfection. If I was down in the pit it would have most likely been one of my favourite sets of the weekend, no question. One of the best live metal bands around today!
We then took a slow stroll over to Opus to see the black metal legends Behemoth. I’ve recently become a fan of them on track, and my god did they blow me away here! Everything about it, from the sound to the production to their live skill was impeccable, and made them feel MASSIVE. They fully owned the stage, and made an incredibly solid case as to why they’re headliners in Europe and at the likes of Bloodstock. The setlist was perfect, too. Whether it was the heavy-hitters from the bands magnum opus, The Satanist, the title track from their latest album or even a cheeky Bathory cover, it was all so damn good. They made it feel like their darker genre of music belonged at a typically lighter festival, and most definitely turned some heads. Nergal is a fantastic frontman and conducted his brutal symphony to perfection.
After a short pause, Opus headliners of the day Architects took the stage by storm. The crowd were raring to go right from the offset, and the set proved that the band could arguably be headlining the festival as a whole the next time they’re there. The crowd were so into it, in fact, that the opening half was rather stop start due to those pesky pits getting a little too hairy and security intervening. ‘Blackhole’ and ‘Impermanence’ in particular were a pain, but both restarted and went just as hard afterwards. I’ve seen some saying that Sam [Carter] didn’t handle it very well, but if anything it just revved him up to go even harder the rest of the set. Even with it being the most stop-start set of the weekend, it just goes to show how much the Download crowd love the band, and how hugely popular they have become.
The setlist was rather perfect for me, too. Being Sky Earth heavy was amazing, as I LOVE THAT ALBUM. ‘Blackhole’ when it was finally played fully, was a particular highlight, but opener ‘Elegy’, ‘Seeing Red’ and the Florent Salfati-featuring ‘Brain Dead’ were all just as awesome. And, we still got some of the very best of their back catologue between. From ‘Deep Fake’ to ‘Gravedigger’, ‘Black Lungs’ to the touching Tom tribute of ‘Doomsday’ and now-perennial closer ‘Animals’ it was all SO GOOD. Hell Sam’s voice even held up a lot better live than I expected it to from recent clips, and he is such a good frontman these days. His and Adam’s lows combined still itch my brain in the best way. They were one of my most anticipated bands of the weekend and they certainly didn’t disappoint!
On the way out of the arena, we caught a couple of songs from mainstage headliners Guns n’ Roses. Now, I’ve seen them three times before since their reunion, I knew what I was getting into. Still, hearing Axl murder some of my favourite minutes in all of music in the close of ‘Coma’ still hurt just a little. We caught that, a big widdly solo from Slash (expected) and then watched ‘Sweet Child O Mine’ from the back. It was exactly what I expected it to be. A slightly thinner crowd going nuts for one of the four songs from the three plus hour set that they actually wanted to see. The band are still pretty tight; Slash still noodles with the best of them, even if his technicality is slipping now that he’s *checks notes* SIXTY. And Axl was… also present. I don’t want to clown too hard on the guy as he is a legend and performs long-ass sets on the regular at his age, it’s no mean feat. Heck, he still has the energy of a toddler… he just also has the voice of one. Still, I know plenty of people who enjoyed it and got some nostalgia out of it, and good for them! They still put on a great show, no matter their sound, and are truly one of the biggest bands ever. It’s just not for me any more, nothing will top that first show back for me. I am, however, jealous of those who got to see them do ‘Dead Horse’ live, I do love that song!
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.
Today, the genre-defying instrumental rock innovators Polyphia announce their 2026 World Tour produced by Live Nation across Europe and North America. RJ Pasin will support all tour dates worldwide. Perturbator will join all European dates including the UK while North American shows will also feature Ladrones with select dates including Intervals or Plini.
Last week, the band released their first single in over four years, “CAN YOU FEEL IT,” pushing boundaries in ways the band never has before. Today, they released a new music video for the track, showcasing an electrifying performance by the band amidst a crowd of fans. Directed by EVERS, this video captures the band’s captivating live energy and their infectious sound.
Tickets will be available starting with VIP and Artist Presales from Tuesday, June 16 at 11am ET / 4pm BST. Additional presales will run throughout the week ahead of the general on-sale beginning Friday, June 19 at 10am local time. For complete details, visit Polyphia.com.
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.
Big Country Redux announce a 15 date UK tour in November and December 2026 to celebrate the 40thAnniversary of ‘The Seer’. ‘The Seer’ was Big Country’s third album and featured the song ‘Look Away’ which was their biggest hit in the UK, whilst the title track featured a duet between Stuart Adamson and Kate Bush. ‘The Seer’ album itself hit No.2 spot in the UK.
Big Country Redux are led by Bruce Watson, one of the founding members of Big Country, alongside the late, great guitarist, singer and songwriter Stuart Adamson. All dates will feature support from Evan Peters Presents The Alarm. Between 2011 and 2013 , following the death of Stuart Adamson, Evan’s father Mike Peterswas the lead vocalist for Big Country as well as The Alarm.
NOVEMBER 2026
Thurs 19 The Crypt [Town Hall] MIDDLESBROUGH Fri 20 Picturedrome HOLMFIRTH Sat 21 Crescent YORK Sun 22 Corporation SHEFFIELD Weds 25 O2 Academy BOURNEMOUTH Fri 27 O2 Academy OXFORD Sat 28 Drill Shed MARGATE Sun 29 O2 Academy LEICESTER
DECEMBER 2026
Weds 2 O2 Islington Academy LONDON Thurs 3 O2 Academy 2 BIRMINGHAM Fri 4 O2 Academy LIVERPOOL Sat 5 The Drill LINCOLN Sun 6 Wylam Brewery NEWCASTLE Weds 9 Junction CAMBRIDGE Thurs 10 O2 Academy Bristol BRISTOL
All tickets are on sale from 10am on Friday 29th May!
September will see the release of the ‘Eastworld’ album, which will be released on CD, Vinyl and Digital on 18 September through Absolute. The album will be preceded by the first single, the title track ‘Eastworld’ on 5 June 2026.
The album consists of 10 brand new recordings of Big Country songs originally written or co-written by Stuart Adamson, which were released as demoes or sketches, but never previously properly developed or lavished with the attention they deserved.
Bruce Watson said of the ‘Eastworld’ release, “Some of these songs will be known to the diehards as they have sneaked out from the archives as unfinished demoes or ‘internet only’ releases, but these are all songs that deserved to be developed further at the time they were written. I am delighted to have now completed them; it is a true privilege to get this newly recorded material out there. All of these songs were sketched out on old reel to reel tape recorders in dingy basements or in small 8 track studios”.
We headed down to one of our favourite venues last weekend to see one of our favourite country artists, like a match made in heaven! We’ve been hoping to see him for a few years now too, with him dropping out of The Long Roada few years back and us missing him on the subsequent rearranged tour. Joining him were two of the fastest rising stars in the genre, one from Nashville and one from Manchester, so it was set to be a fantastic night all-round!
Firstly, a quick shoutout to Randall King. He was supposed to be main support on the tour, but has taken a step back from live shows the last couple of months to work on his mental health and personal life. From what I know of him (even having the pleasure of meeting him a couple of years ago), he seemed like a great guy, and hopefully he manages to work through whatever he’s going through. Mental health is so very important, and it sucks for anyone to be going through struggles. You got this, brother!
Another thing before we talk about the artists; this show made me remember why I don’t go to many big country shows on their own. Goddamn, the crowd was terrible! Talking through not only both supports, but a good chunk of Pardi’s set too, just until his big hits came up towards the end. It really ruins the experience somewhat for those who actually went there to watch the show. I honestly don’t understand the thought process behind paying £40+ to go to a gig and not watch most of it, I canny afford that! It’s surprisingly a younger, more me/gen Z crowd that are doing it too, the TikTok crowd. Shame on y’all.
Anyway, enough negativity, let’s get on with the artists!
Seeming newcomer to the scene Bec O’Malley came off a massive day before, playing Royal Albert Hall for Highways and putting out his first single, and showed up big on Saturday too! He and his two backing players owned the large stage for the entire time they were up there, playing (and singing) their asses off. And, honestly, their set was arguably too short. I get why it was, with only one song released it may have been harder to hold the crowds attention, but he did it masterfully. His unique blend of UK folk, Americana and modern country came across excellently live, and he was a pretty decent frontman, too. Closing on the excellent debut single ‘Let it Go’ was awesome, and a highlight of the night in general. However, his other originals were just as good, honestly! And he even snuck a cheeky cover of Ella Langley’s massive ‘Choosin’ Texas’, to the delight of the crowd! Bec is gonna be a big name in the UK and global scene sooner rather than later, and it felt awesome seeing him get this sort of shot right out of the gate. Hopefully he sticks with his guitarist and fiddle player too, as both fit him excellently!
Next up was Alyssa Flaherty. For just a woman and her guitar, she sure packed out the sound in the theatre! It’s probably because her vocals were powerful and absolutely incredible! I wasn’t too familiar with her heading into the set, but left being a big new fan. Her original music is great, and was performed excellently by just her and her guitar. Honestly, I’d love to see her again with a full band backing her, but this was a great set in its own right! For an acoustic set it was definitely one of my favourites in recent memory!
After a rather short changeover, Mr Saturday Night himself took to the stage! Opening on the tours namesake, it was awesome right from the get-go. Honestly, it was a bit of a shame that we didn’t get more off said album, with just ‘Boots Off’ and ‘Friday Night Heartbreaker’ making the cut. The latter was a massive highlight of the whole night, though! The highlights packed out the whole set, though! Whether it was ‘Tequila Little Time’, ‘Mr. Saturday Night’, ‘Last Night Lonely’ or his collaboration with Thomas Rhett ‘Beer Can’t Fix’, there was awesomeness sprinkled throughout. Then, there was the absolutely incredible run to close out the set; from ‘Dirt on my Boots’ to closer ‘Head Over Boots’, it was banger after banger! There was maybe a slight lull in the middle, but that was more from the crowd not paying attention than any of the songs being bad!
In terms of the performance too, it was amazing! Pardi is a born front-man, and put on an excellent show from start to finish. His vocals are just as good live as they are on track, and when not holding one of his many guitars, he was bouncing around the stage, holding the crowd in the palm of his hand and having plenty of energy! The rest of his band added so much to the show, too! Everyone up on that stage is some of the best musicians at their craft, and worked their asses off from start to finish. They performed like one of the very best of a big-country-bands around, which they very much are! From all of the different instruments being played to the incredible soloing to the energy throughout, it was all a top-class performance. There whole set went by in a flash, and I’d have happily taken another full hour of it!
And there you have it, folks. Three incredible acts putting on an amazing show for a packed out crowd. I had a blast throughout, and the two opening acts definitely won me over in a big way. I’d recommend checking out all three of them both live and on track, and I’ll certainly be seeing them all the next time they’re nearby! It was a fantastic night of live music, and one I’ll not soon be forgetting!
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!
