Interview
Interview
Split Chain: “This is legit, and this is happening”
The fastest rising name in nu-gaze talk Download, summer stages and the debut album that's going to define them
There are few bands that have experienced the rapid ascension that Split Chain have over the last two years. Arriving on the scene in the summer of 2023, they have since become one of the most talked about and exciting assets to the alternative landscape in quite some time. Inventing “nu-gaze” (nu-metal meets shoegaze), pricking up the ears of Epitaph Records, playing the biggest festivals in the world and still never losing any of the independent and underground spirit that they all grew up around, they’re the perfect example of how to handle virality without forgetting where you came from.
And this summer is set to be no different. With an appearance at Download Festival confirmed and their debut album, motionblur, now confirmed for a 11 July release, they’re ready to take the next step up the ladder. For many bands, such a quickfire journey would be too much to handle. But for Split Chain, simply knowing that there are people out there who believe in them as much as they believe in themselves is reason enough to keep on pushing.
To get up to speed with the adventure so far, we chatted to vocalist Bert Martinez-Cowles and bassist Tom Davies.
With how things have picked up since the band’s launch, how does it feel to see that everything you thought Split Chain could be has come to fruition?
Bert: When we first started, we didn’t choose to do a specific sound. We weren’t choosing to do everything so meticulously. We wrote songs, and these were the songs that came out of that. There’s a fine line between that meticulousness and just letting us, as a group of people, come together and see what happens. The balance that we found worked so perfectly. Once we had the first couple of songs back and I started working on the branding, and it really wasn’t that much work. Going with the flow felt good, and from there, what we were doing was very quickly set in stone, and all that was done without us really knowing what was to come.
Tom: Yeah, it was a happy accident to begin with. But as soon as that accident happened, we could say, “Okay, we’re going to pull from here and here and here”. The key is that it has fundamentally been so organic and authentic to who we are as people. That’s why it has felt the way it has – it’s been really easy for us to do.
So much of that comes from the legwork you have put in before, even if it wasn’t intentional. Being a part of your local scenes, starting bands, putting on shows, and absolutely loving this type of music from a young age all go a long way to making every move feel natural. You’re just expressing your passion, so what was it like to see others resonate with that?
Bert: It’s been mental seeing people connect with that. From the first song, we have had a bunch of strangers saying, ‘Oh my god, this is exactly what I have been wanting to hear’. It feels like the local emo scene around me back in 2015. What that meant to me is what it feels like to these people now. Back then, I opened up and found a huge underground scene full of loads of bands that I instantly loved, and now, if we can do that for others, that is unbelievable. Strangers don’t have to care about what we do. Still, when they are in another country and will message or comment on what we are doing, saying, ‘This is what I have been searching for’, it is just mind-blowing.
Tom: Yeah, especially when it all popped off on TikTok. We always knew when we were writing ‘Future’ that it felt f*cking good, and we had a good feeling about it. But to see it connect and then go viral, if you want to call it that, asking, ‘Where can I get more of that?’ was insane. I read one comment recently where some guy said that our music gave him the same feeling he had 30 years ago when he would drive to and from work listening to random mixtapes full of bands. The fact that we can do that for other people, considering it was something we also wanted to do for ourselves, is mental.
It’s a case of not being afraid of those new ways of people finding out about you. People completely outside of the scene are now falling in love with this music because of you though, and, of course, that raises expectations as well…
Bert: We have always said that we are always going to carry on by doing exactly what we set out to do. Every time we have gone in the studio, we have approached it with a song or two that we liked, regardless of whether it sounds like the old stuff or if we have anything else demoed. We have chosen the songs that we thought were cool. We haven’t changed much, we’ve just picked it and known it felt right.
How do you feel Split Chain have adapted, though? What have you added to the repertoire as you have grown in what you want the band to represent?
Bert: I would say confidence has gone up in the way we put ourselves out there a little bit more. It’s more of an open book. Once you’ve tested the waters a little bit, and then you’re getting a lot of fans off the back of that, you see that they are reacting to the songs positively and taking what they need from them. We’ve had people saying, “Your songs have helped me so much through this past year”, and that was never something we strived for. But if people start resonating with the songs like that, especially lyric-wise, that makes us want to open the floodgates that bit more.
Tom: There’s a degree of us not being afraid to take a risk here or there, either. Fundamentally, we were, and we are, writing for ourselves. That sets the precedent. It doesn’t matter if it’s the first single we’ve put one, the last one or the next one; it’s about whether we like it enough to want to put it out. Lyrically, that all comes from the personal aspects of everybody’s lives. That in itself makes it easier for people to connect. What I have grown to realise is that we are actually way darker than we set out to be. That was never a conscious discussion; it was just the way the music was formed. We’re lucky enough to live in a society where being more open about negative feelings is acceptable and encouraged. To have those outlets through things like music is something that resonates with people.
It’s interesting to be in a place where you’re listening back to something you’ve made and realising just how far you have taken it. You’re uncovering things that you might never have any other way…
Bert: Because this has been so quick, we are all on the same page and going through it at the same time. We’re all learning at the same time, too. And off the back of that, it has meant that everybody has got closer. As long as we have a little group of us, we know that things are going to be alright.
Tom: It’s gone from friendship to brotherhood super quickly. Some of us were super close anyway, but we weren’t all best friends, you know? But it has brought us all closer because we have all been chucked in at the deep end together and are more reliant on each other than ever before. There are things we can talk about that we couldn’t do two and a half years ago.
You mention the deep end, and that’s something you have been thrown into when it comes to the live arena as well. From supporting Silverstein and Thursday in the USA to joining the Download line-up to taking on your own headline tour. What has cutting your teeth in so many different spaces in such quick succession taught you?
Bert: For me, the US tour was what taught me the most. Going to an insane place with no crew and playing these massive venues with bands that we literally grew up listening to. That’s the point when I realised we have to give this everything that we have got. I think the fact it was Silverstein and Thursday, two huge bands for all of us, made me realise that we can’t travel thousands of miles and play almost two months of shows and half-ass it. I think it was the biggest learning curve as well. To go through a million different scenarios, keeping us all sane and happy and motivated to carry on for that long, that was wild.
Tom: Off the back of that tour, we did a headline show in Brooklyn which sold out so fast. Bearing in mind that we had gone from playing all these theatres and 2000 cap venues, we were now playing our own show in front of these kids I’ve never met going absolutely mad, pits, stage dives, the lot. It’s one thing seeing the numbers on Spotify, but then to see it translate into a show as good as that is another completely. This is legit, and this is happening. It was the same playing at Outbreak in Manchester last year as well. A festival we go to as fans, sitting in the middle of the day on the second stage and seeing just how packed out it is, is just, “Holy f*ck”. We know we need to be on our shit.
You’re not letting the buzz get above you though by continuing to play and support small venues. But then, when it comes to being at festivals like Download, do you feel even more ready for whatever a set that massive has to throw at you?
Tom: With the big ones, it is always about that opportunity to play for more people. The chance to really get ourselves out there. But I love the smaller ones because they are so much more intimate. I am way more used to that in terms of that as a punter. We can encourage people to get involved and have a good time, making the most of it. It’s about the confidence you get from those massive shows, and applying it to the smaller ones, blowing people’s minds in the process.
As you look to the future, your focus now is on the debut album. It’s all been building up to this, really. How do you reflect on what you have created, and how well do you feel it stands up as an ultimate vision for what you want Split Chain to be?
Bert: It is a perfect example of us. From doing the singles and messing around with different sounds and influences, the album is the perfect accumulation of all that, but levelled up massively. We’re all super proud of it, and the odd people who have heard it letting us know that they feel the same is another level. When it comes from people other than us, it does feel terrifying but really cool as well.
Tom: I feel like in the way that we have matured in the last year and a half, and learned more about our writing, those things have all translated into the album. I’m confident in saying that no song on there is exactly the same as another, which is what we wanted to do. We wanted it to be as eclectic as our actual tastes. And because of that, it feels like a much more mature version of what we have put out. But of course, there is still more room for growth, but I think it is a really good step up for us. I really hope everyone is going to love it as much as we do.
motionblur is out on 11 July via Epitaph records. Preorder here
