Pioneers of a raucous brand of ‘nu-gaze’, Bristol’s Split Chain have quickly become one of UK rock’s most exciting new bands. From their love of Tony Hawk and ’00s goth, to their blistering live shows, and the fact that Epitaph snapped them up, there’s heaps of reasons to be stoked about a band who have their sights set on reaching as high as they can go…
Only forming in 2023, Split Chain haven’t even existed for two years yet, but they’ve already played dream festivals like Download, Outbreak and 2000trees, toured with their heroes and racked up over 10,000,000 streams. Not bad for a band who’ve only got a handful of songs out in the world, eh?
The nu-gaze trailblazers – who are made up of vocalist Bert Martinez-Cowles, guitarists Oli Bowles and Jake Reid, bassist Tom Davies and drummer Aaron Black – have enjoyed a wild time of late, most recently penning a deal with Epitaph Records and dropping a ridiculously good cover of Type O Negative’s I Don’t Wanna Be Me. On top of that, they’ve a debut album slated for a 2025 release.
Speaking to Kerrang! right before heading into the studio to record, Bert and Tom bring us up to speed on everything you need to know about one of Britain’s hottest new bands…
Ask Tom and Bert why their music has caught on so fast, and they point to the fact that Split Chain are completely genuine
Tom Davies (bass): “The connection we’ve made with people is down to it coming from an authentic place. Split Chain isn’t just the music – it’s the way we all grew up, our lifestyle and the music we listen to all coming together and then being put back out there by us. That resonates with people.”
Bert Martinez-Cowles (vocals): “We write the music we want to listen to. We’re all very creative – we love making the videos and the visuals that go with the band, and I feel like other people can see that we genuinely love what we’re doing.”
Tom: “The DIY aspect of everything is a part of it, too. Up until now and even after signing with Epitaph, it’s all very hands-on and things are done as cheaply as possible. All our music videos have been shot in the same place on the same shitty camera, and there’s something about that which seems to really sit well with people.”
Split Chain signed on the dotted line with Bad Religion man Brett Gurewitz’s iconic label, following in the footsteps of some of their favourite bands
Tom: “It feels fucking unreal. When we were being approached by labels, Epitaph stood out because I had this memory of waking up on Christmas morning when I was 12 or 13 and opening the CD of Suicide Season by Bring Me The Horizon, and seeing the Epitaph logo on the back. To go from listening to music that Epitaph have put out, to then being on the same label as some of the most influential bands around is mad. I’m pinching myself every day.”
Bert: “It’s all been in the works for a while, so it didn’t really feel real until the news was finally out there. Now it is and we’ve been able to talk about it, we’re like, ‘Oh shit, we are on this label.’ It’s just wild, man.”
Camaraderie is key – but especially when your music is infused with your personalities
Bert: “The point of our band was very clear among us all from the start – we knew what we wanted to sound like, the graphics and the personality. It’s not a meticulously planned thing, but what we are is friends making music together, and we’re all on the same page. That shared vision was evident from the start.”
Tom: “There’s a lot of trust, and that comes from us all being friends. We’re not one of those bands where some people don’t know each other at first. This was born out of friendship.”
Bert: “I’ve been in bands before where we’ve been good friends, but there’s something different about Split Chain. There’s always been clarity about what we want to do.”
Everything from pop-punk to black metal has gone into Split Chain’s sound. It means they can jump onto an array of line-ups – be it with Boston Manor or touring with U.S. hardcore champs GEL
Tom: “It was never a conscious decision for us to not fit into any particular space, but we do have this saying in the band which is, ‘The chain does what it wants.’ That sums it up well, because we just want to tour with people that we like, regardless of their sound.”
Bert: “That’s the main thing, because we all like a broad spectrum of music and our influences come from a lot of different places. Aaron and I were really into pop-punk bands like Neck Deep and The Story So Far, and then Tom’s really into black metal. We all like old nu-metal, emo and grunge, too – Superheaven are a big band for us all. We just want to play with who we like so we can watch them every night! If we happen to fit on the bill nicely as well, then that’s sick.”
Split Chain’s spinning logo is a riff on Tony Hawk’s iconic games, while their recent single Haven has a little of the dark side to it…
Bert: “When I was coming up with our logos and branding, I really wanted us to have a spinning logo to remind people of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2. I’m so stoked people have noticed it! It’s important for us to have that personality and light-heartedness come across.”
Tom: “For Haven, we wanted to sample Star Wars, but we knew we’d get Disney on our arses, so it’s our manager doing a Kylo Ren impression, and then we just tweaked the voice a bit in the studio. He did a really good job! He’ll be glad to know people think that’s Kylo Ren on there.”
I Don’t Wanna Be Me has been given the Split Chain treatment. Spoiler alert: it slaps
Bert: “We listen to Type O Negative in the van a lot, and when we were on tour, we were like, ‘Fuck it, shall we just learn this song and play it at Outbreak?’”
Tom: “It was a last-minute decision to do it, but it’s one of those tunes that we all love. Some of the other guys in the band love the gothy stuff, and when they get drunk and they’re in charge of the music, Type O Negative come on as loud as fucking possible. It was very much a flash-in-the-pan thing where we decided to have a bit of fun, and it really works, especially live. It was one of the first things we decided to do with Epitaph.”
We’re speaking to Split Chain right before they jump into the studio to record their debut album. If their recent singles are anything to go by, this could be a game-changer
Bert: “We’ve only done singles so far. I think to go from eight songs being out there straight into an album is a bit of a ballsy move, but I think we’re going to pull it off.”
Tom: “Releasing our singles, we wanted to see how things landed before deciding whether to jump into an EP or album first. But after the first three songs doing well, it was clear to us that we were going to go straight into an album. It’s going to be 12 completely new songs – we’re just finishing up the writing process now.”
Bert: “We’ll still be writing a bit in the studio too, though, because with everything fucking skyrocketing the way it has, we haven’t really had a chance to sit down and be like, ‘Okay, let’s write an album.’ Where we are now, it’s more like, ‘Okay, we need a fucking album.’ By the time people are reading this, it should be done!”
More aggression and more shoegaze? Count us in. Plus, a familiar face is helming the production desk
Tom: “Already, the album is feeling like a more mature take on us. There are loads of different aspects going on: you’ve got the aggressive songs and the heavier stuff, and then the softer, more shoegazey, hooky songs. All of that stuff coming together will be a really good way of summing up our sound.
“We’re working with Kel Pinchin [Bury Tomorrow, Void Of Vision] again for the production, and we’re stoked on everything he’s done for us. He understands our music in a way that I don’t think we necessarily do, and he’ll tell us if he thinks a riff we’ve come up with is a bit shit! But we always work together to make the songs better – there’s a mutual trust and respect there, and it makes the vibe so good when recording.”
Split Chain have really cut their teeth on the road, and the shows have all been ragers
Bert: “None of us really got anywhere in bands before, so playing tours, big venues and actually having fans is pretty new to us! Playing live so much has been really good, especially supporting all the great bands we have. We’ve always written songs we’d like to see played live, and from that we’ve wanted to make sure the people who are coming to the shows love the stage-diving, crowdsurfing and moshing, and give them the music they can really do that to. Obviously, we’re here to release music, but we’re performers, too. That’s a huge part of it.”
Tom: “The music needs to be able to translate live, and we’ve taken a lot of inspiration in that regard from the people we’ve toured with, like GEL. We’ve seen them play and the great reactions they’ve had and been like, ‘Holy shit, we should fucking integrate some of that into our sound.’ Whether it’s a chord progression, a drumbeat or whatever, touring with all these bands has had an influence on us, especially with regards to the mixture of sounds on the new record.”
Right after they started, Split Chain set the goal of playing Outbreak, which they swiftly managed. Now they’ve got their sights on supporting Deftones. Your move, Chino…
Bert: “We all know what we want to manifest next, and that’s supporting Deftones – that would be the fucking dream.”
Tom: “Every time we’ve manifested something else it’s fucking worked out!”
Bert: “We had this plan at the beginning of the year where we thought if we could get Outbreak and 2000trees booked, that would be a really good, and we also wanted to tour with Superheaven. When that tour offer came in from our agent, we were like, ‘You don’t even need to ask us!’ We’ve done so much bucket list shit already – it’s getting ticked off way too quickly!”
Tom: “Beyond that, a headline U.S. tour would be sick, as would getting to play countries like Australia, Japan and in Asia.”
Bert: “Play in Japan, play with Deftones and headline in the U.S. – those are the big three. If it happens, we’ll send Kerrang! a lovely thank you note and an AAA pass.”
This article originally appeared in the winter 2024 issue of the magazine.
Split Chain’s cover of I Don’t Wanna Be Me is out now via Epitaph. The band play Slam Dunk Festival 2025.
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