Godsticks are, for me, one of the most underrated bands around today. Eighteen years and seven albums since their formation, the band from Newport live under the shadow of their local brothers Skindred and GLC in terms of popularity. Put the needle in the groove, though, and for me, the Progressive Metal of this quartet is way more interesting and exciting.
It is, of course, a different style completely, and I have admiration for all the bands from my current home city, the ‘Port. Godsticks latest album VoID is amongst their best, and for me, marks the latest step in the band’s evolution.
Congratulations given to singer/guitarist/keyboardist/founder Darran Charles, I discover that he is humble and reflective about the band’s status and the response they receive.
“It’s very nice to get it, in all seriousness, because you often wonder what the reception is going to be like. We generally always get a lot of positive press, but this time there’s been a couple of negative reviews, and I always thought I didn’t give a shit.
“It turns out that I do slightly give a shit! Really. I don’t know what it is. I probably take the sales over the positive reviews just because that would enable us to continue, more than anything else. But, yeah, that’s what I always thought.”
The passion is evident within minutes. Darran and the band care deeply about their music. Possibly too deeply, as there is always an element of fragility about the future of a band like Godsticks, despite their support from Kscope.
“It always feels like it’s at an end,” Darran says. “Each album, if I’m on a tour cycle, because you put your heart and soul into stuff because I love doing it, love doing this. But then the only downside is that if figures come in for gigs, ticket sales and stuff like that, and they are not great. It’s always potentially the end, and not through a lack of determination or anything like that.
“But the longer it goes on, the more you’re faced with the reality that it can’t go on at a certain level. There have to be steps up, not for any ego reason or anything like that. It’s just to justify continuing.
“The problem used to be that there’s a lot of music out there, a lot of competition and whatnot. There’s a lot of good music out there. That’s the thing. There’s a lot of talented bands out there and talented people. You’re not trying to separate yourself from the shit anymore.
“You don’t have to be a legitimate artist to show your creativity these days. Now that more people have access to technology, we’ve got more competition for it. So, it’s difficult. It’s really difficult. I’ll be honest, there. You caught me on a day when I’m quite miserable about it as well.”
Whilst Darran has a typical Newport outlook on life. He has a valid point. The slog of years of creativity with what feels like little reward is challenging.
He continues to explain. “In all honesty, it gets to this stage whenever you release an album, and you’re waiting to go out on a tour, you’re hoping for an improvement in sales and stuff. If you don’t see many, there’s no point in looking for excuses like, ‘Oh, no one’s got any money anymore.’
“I’m always on the precipice anyway, so this isn’t unusual. Any sort of knock back, you always must pick yourself back up a little bit and get on with it and sort of this stuff. I really do love doing it, but at the end of the day, other people have to, as well.”
For those who bought the extra edition of VoID, there is a special, exclusive CD called Nowhere To Be Seen, containing three tracks not available anywhere else.
Whilst it’s brilliant to have some exclusive songs, I ask Darran about the origins of the music because they do not feel like the standard throwaway songs some bands release. I flag Downplay in particular as a standout track.
“I really love Downplay, which we recorded when we did the last album, This Is What A Winner Looks Like, in 2023,” Darran says. “That was one of the only occasions that I can remember where we had four extra songs that we didn’t include on the album. Usually, we’ve got ten tracks, and that’s it.”
Darran explains that during the pandemic, he had nothing in terms of writing. “But when we started playing live again, I just had inspiration. I brought a pile of stuff. But that track just didn’t fit the vibe of This Is What A Winner Looks Like. I’m glad that we didn’t record it and we didn’t commit it to that album because I was always going to do a bonus just to encourage pre-orders and give something for free as well.
“I always think, oh, I’ll just knock something out, right? And it’s never the case. It’s like I can’t, as if it is impossible for me not to put 100% effort into everything. Even then, it took me months to do those tracks. I treat them the same.”
Darran is glad that he was able to do this and does not view them as throwaway tracks, which is reassuring. “It’s a bonus disc, and it’s exclusive to pre-orders. But you write, and when you put together the track listing for an album, you still think of the journey. That just didn’t feel part of the journey.”
With a varied run of dates, it is drummer Tom Price, along with the promoters, who select the supports for each show. The Swansea one has a great undercard. Darran laughs about it, though.
“I’m allowed to just sit back and do fuck all on that,’ he smiles. “That’s the one I’m enjoying. That’s like my gift. We all have our responsibilities. Tom does social media. Tom and Gavin. Gavin’s in charge of videos because that’s a pain in the arse in itself, man. That’s a lot of work. You got to do your own videos. You’ve got to be editing yourself.”
Darran is still the chief songwriter, although he is keen to point out the contributions of the others. “Gavin [Bushell], Thomas, and Francis [George] are essential, every album increasingly. Gavin always creates synth stuff. He would rewrite some of my guitar parts, and he always creates little motifs. I put the demo together, and then I’ll let them do that.
“Tom’s drums, he stitches everything together. I really like working with Tom because he is, and I always add, probably my favourite drummer to work with, because he’s really musical.
“These guys all care about the song. The more proficient you are on your instrument, you’ve got to wean yourself off it, forget that and remember the reason that you learned those techniques in the first place was that you like the music. It wasn’t for the sake of doing less, or to see if we can do fast stuff.
“I always liked that kind of music, and I always needed that technique to perform this kind of music. I like this kind of music. None of it is ever like, if I got a really good lick, let’s see if I can cram this in. They have the same attitude as that.
“Don’t get me wrong. Every now and again, they’ll try to push their luck and say, oh, I’m going to get this in. But they all serve the song, and that’s like a massive deal for me because that’s what it’s all about. The song’s the most important thing.”
If you have seen the music videos on YouTube, you will be familiar with the comments section, which can be hilarious. For the M.I.A. video, there is a comment which states ‘sounds like Altar Bridge. I really like it’.
When Darran tells me he could not tell you what Altar Bridge sounds like, it’s time for a bit of laughter. “Well, they sound like you, obviously,” I laugh.
“Is it Miles Kennedy who’s the singer?” Darran asks. “I take it as a compliment, of course! There’s always a part of me that wonders why we never actually take off, and I don’t mean into the stratosphere. I mean, go up and attract more people. I always wonder whether it’s my voice. I can’t judge it, right?”
It’s a question I am not alone in asking, and it moves us into a conversation about the evolution of rock and Metal vocalists and the expectancy for harsher vocals.
“One of my favourite Metal albums, and I maintain it is a Metal album, is Faith No More’s King For A Day, Fool For A Lifetime. I love that album. That was a big influence. Don’t get me wrong. I ain’t comparing my voice to Mike Patten’s because he’s got one of the greatest voices in rock. I don’t necessarily think Metal has to have just a gravelly or growling voice.”
This comes back to the question of where Godsticks fit. “We don’t fit neatly into any category,” Darran says. “We try to force ourselves into the Progressive Metal category in a sense, but when we first started out, we fit in nowhere. That’s always been it for us. The classification stuff is quite important in a sense for promotion marketing.
“We always sort of straddle, especially at the beginning. But even now, we still get, ‘What kind of music are they?’ Because we do like softer stuff.
For me, music has always been music, and the only reason that you play heavy music is that, for me, that’s the best stuff to do in life. I just love it.
We talk about that transfer of energy, exchange of energy, that has the most energy for me. So, it means something when you write it, and it means something when you perform it.”
Godsticks released VOiD on 27 March 2026 via Kscope. For more details visit godsticks.lnk.to/VOiDFA. Their tour kicks off on 17 April at the Hope & Anchor in London. Tour ticket links are available from here. The band also play SOS Festival, Oldham on 4 July 2026.
