We caught up with Canterbury doomsters Famyne after they opened the Ronnie James Dio Stage at Bloodstock 2025 to discuss the band’s growth from their debut Catton Hall show in 2016, what lessons and inspiration they have taken since then, and the merits of singing in communal showers.
Congratulations – you have completed the hat-trick! You have now attended Bloodstock three times, playing all three stages – first in 2016, then in 2021, and this year. How does it feel for you?
Chris: Well, as we have said to everyone, it is indescribable. I think we are still trying to get over it. It’s our largest gig to date. It started, and it was over in the blink of an eye – it’s the fastest forty minutes of my life, I think.
Tom: I think I’ll have flashbacks of that performance for the next few years of my life. It was memorable. I feel like, because it went by so fast, all those things, you only really experience afterwards. It’s out-of-body in that respect.
Chris: I think we’re still processing it.
What was quite lovely to see was just the amount of support that you had, and the chanting for “Famyne” was amazing!
Tom: Our fans and our friends do that really well.
Chris: We will forever be grateful to them. I think my heart melted a little bit, and I tried to keep a straight face on stage and look serious, but I couldn’t and had to have this nice smile.
“Oh, thanks. Thanks, guys!” I almost cried!
What I wanted to ask next is: what do you think that says about you guys as a band that over the course of these years, you’ve been able to achieve that, play here three times, move up every stage, progress, grow, and go from strength to strength?
Tom: I think it shows that, if you’ve got the staying power, if you’ve got the material and you have the passion, you work hard and you don’t give up and maybe make a few sacrifices along the way, then you can get the thing you want. If you want it hard enough.
And I know how cliché that sounds, and I know how many times I doubted that coming up, but here I am as living proof. It doesn’t work for everyone, but it works for some, and I think that makes it worth the effort.
Yeah, absolutely. So, you have achieved all this in about ten years. What do you hope to achieve in the next ten years?
Tom: Well, I’m gonna get older and older and older, I think!
Chris: I think as far as the band stuff goes, well, onwards and upwards, really! Just make this more of a regular thing. You know that stage is not a known territory for us. It’s not a familiar setup. So to get on there, going out of the shallow end into the deep end – jelly hands! I actually loved it, but had jelly hands to start with. But like anything, the more you do it, the more you’re gonna get more used to that setting. You know what I mean? It would be nice to do more things like that, but who knows? We’ll just roll the dice and keep doing what we do.
Tom: This felt like the end of an old computer game, where you get the boss at the end. This felt like the boss of our so-far career! So we’ll see what comes next.
It’s like when you see the health bar suddenly go down to halfway, and the music changes, and you are like, “Oh, no!”
Chris: I don’t think we lost any lives, though! I think we did alright!
No, no, no, you still have a full complement, you nailed that one! So, you won Metal 2 The Masses back in 2016. What would you say to yourselves back then from this point? What advice could you offer?
Tom: Good question!
Chris: Don’t join the band! Haha! Just don’t stop, keep going and give it your all. You know, sheer termination.
You’re going to get a load of “No’s”, loads of negative stuff along the way, but just keep saying true to yourselves, be honest to yourself, as much as possible. Enjoy it along the way as well.
Tom: Invest in Bitcoin!
That’s excellent advice! On the topic of advice, you mentioned earlier that you are a band that is living proof of how hard work, determination, and perseverance can take you to where you want to be. You’ve started from the third stage here, and you’ve now played the main stage – what would you say, what pearls of wisdom can you offer, and what should people take from you if they are starting, or entering Metal 2 The Masses next year?
Tom: Practice. Practice and don’t be afraid to take advice from external sources. People who listen to your stuff, be they friends or not. It’s important to take into consideration how you’re seen as well as how you feel, because both are equally important, I would say. When you’re making a piece of art, I think, because when you’re making something that’s going to be listened to by others, you need to make sure that the others like it, whilst being yourself,
Chris: Take risks – take a few risks, as well. Sometimes you’ve got to play it safe, so try and make sure you can work out which time it is, but take risks. We just played a brand new song, which only got lyrics put to it three days ago, as our opening song on the main stage, and everyone said to us we’re mental. We thought it was a bit mental, but it just felt right, and this was a risk that we had to take because it was a statement, I guess. We’ve been given this big opportunity and this big chance, and we appreciate that we’ve got the call.
Tom: It was too heavy not to do, and we had to do that.
Chris: Yeah, sounds awesome. Well, we think so anyway!
Your album, ‘II: The Ground Below’ came out back in 2022, and you’ve got a new song, so that suggests that there’s a follow-up – can you tell us how that’s going, please?
Tom: We’re slowly completing songs bit by bit. We’ll get to 80% on one song and then maybe hit a wall for that particular session, and so we will then move on to another song that’s currently at 60%. Get that up to about 80 or 75 or whatever, and then move on to another one. That’s how we’re slowly building up each song, I would say.
Chris: Every now and then, a random riff comes out, a jam comes out and flips everything on its head again.
Tom: And before you know it, you’ve got another song that you have to bloody write!
Chris: So it’s ongoing and it’s enjoyable. With this new lineup at the moment, we’ve got a nice chemistry and flow going. We have got there and we’re all very excited to see what happens, and we know what’s kind of already there. But what ends up on the album, what doesn’t – who knows? We’re at that stage at the moment, but you had a little preview.
What inspiration has gone into the new music that you are currently working on, and how would you say, both in terms of what’s inspiring you and also in terms of the music itself, could it potentially be different from some of your older material?
Tom: Good question! Chris?
Chris: More dread! We’ve obviously got the Silas boys in the band now. You know, the band Silas? Kind of like groove metal funk. It’s great, a lot faster as well. But having the sort of merger we’ve got going on at the moment, and not intentionally, it’s just how things panned out. They bring an element of groove and some different sort of features to it. Some work, some don’t, and that’s where we’ve been kind of moulding the chemistry, but as we just said in the last question, we kind of got there. So we’ve got this chemistry flowing now, and just taking what they bring as well and have the new mix. I guess it’s important for us that the sound is still us, there’s something of a sonic signature, I guess. But it has evolved in some sort of way.
Tom: And I think, also in a timely respect, the reason why a lot of time different albums sound like they do is because the artists were listening to different people at that particular time. So I know that – and I can only be speaking for myself – I’ve been listening to a lot more folky stuff recently, from the 60s and 70s. And also got back into Gruntruck and Blind River – they’re both pretty amazing bands. So, I recommend you give our next stuff a listen.
When writing, you’ve mentioned that you’ve got new members in the band who are bringing different elements to the table that you’re working on for the sound. Do you ever consider how it’s translated in real-time?
Chris: Absolutely. I mean, I know a lot of people kind of go by the rule of “live is live; recording is recording”, and we do to a certain extent. But we want to try and make as much as we do on the recorded album as much as possible sound like it does live. We want it to sound like the record when you watch it live as well.
Tom: We are hoping to record the next one live.
Chris: Yeah, completely live as we haven’t in the past, for different reasons. If a band member does not want to or does not feel comfortable, for instance. But I’ve kind of put my foot down a bit, and that’s what I really want – I have kind of thrown the toys out of the pram! That’s what I want to do, and I think we are good enough to do it! And the guys are all really up for it. So I think it will capture the energy a lot more for us as well.
Tom: Although, having said that, I can’t resist a good harmony, even though we can’t really reproduce that on stage, I still want to get them in while I can on the recordings, as I love them.
Chris: Oh, yeah. It’s got to be done, but I think we are training a couple of us up to have the bollocks to give it a go on the stage. You know, I sing in the shower, man!
Just pretend you are in the shower in front of way too many people. “What are you doing in my shower?”
Chris: I should start communal showering more, and I will get used to it.
You have got a show taking place at the Dome in October. Have you got any more live shows planned for the rest of the year?
Chris: We have, and I can’t remember a single one of them!
Tom: Our manager tells us where we’re going and what we’re doing, and we do it, pretty much!
Chris: Yeah, she’s been great. She’s a new addition to the Famyne family, and we love her very much. She’s sent from God; she’s a godsend, honestly! So she’s in charge of it all right now, and there is a lot of information on the WhatsApp group. I haven’t read it yet until after this. Yeah, they’re coming out. Sorry, that was a really bad answer!
Tom: Ashton, Ashton!
Can you provide any indication of when fans can expect new music to be released for streaming, etc.?
Tom: Probably either late next year or early the year after that.
Chris: That’s what we’re aiming for.
That neatly ties in with my follow-up question: in 2026, what are your hopes and aspirations?
Tom: We want to play abroad a bit more. We want to get all of the new stuff finished and send some demos out, and just take them there.
Chris: Album three will be released. That’s what I’m hoping. Hopefully!
We will look forward to that in 2026. Thank you very much for taking the time to talk with us today. One final question: what would you like to say to Devolution readers and to your fans?
Chris: Thanks for everything, man! Thank you. Thanks for listening. Thanks for getting down with us. Thanks for supporting us. And you know we’re one side of it, you’re the other side, and it’s a two-way street, and we appreciate it just as much as you may appreciate us.
Tom: I’d say keep going, you’re not alone. And I can’t really put it much better than Chris, really! Doom on!
https://www.facebook.com/famyneuk
Interview By Lee Carter
Photos By Rebecca Bush – https://www.instagram.com/beckybphoto/
