After starting out in the late 2000’s, Desolated have been on one hell of a monolithic journey to get to where they are today.

Originally hailing from Southampton, Desolated rose within the scene with their beatdown style of hardcore in the UK. However as time went on, members and the vision changed. A few years back the band had a well needed break away from the scene so everyone could focus on their personal lives & careers.

Fast forward to 2024 and Desolated came with news of their new altered line up. Bringing back the likes of a familiar face in Tony Evans taking the reigns on vocal duty and founding member Dan Ford taking up bass whilst Charlie Thorpe (Malevolence) took up drums. This led to a release in March 2025 when we were blessed with their new album ‘Finding Peace‘.

Cementing themselves as one of the UK’s hardest hitting hardcore bands, Desolated are now about to embark on a european release tour for ‘Finding Peace’ this december with support from the likes of Bayway, D Bloc & Side Step.

I caught up with guitarist Richy Unsworth who has been with the band from the very beginning to talk about their history and what his hopes are for the future of Desolated.

FIRST OF ALL WHERE ARE YOU GUYS BASED & HOW DID YOU ALL MEET?

Originally we all met in Southampton, however, as time went on members changed and the majority of people that joined are from different parts of the country but I believe we met them all through playing shows and general hardcore based activities.

WHAT WAS THE SCENE LIKE IN SOUTHAMPTON WHEN YOU WERE GROWING UP & HOW DID YOU COME TO LOVE IT?

It was cool, it was a lot smaller than it is now, there wasn’t too many shows in Southampton, every weekend me and some friends would travel to shows to see the bands that we wanted to see, or just hit up multiple on a tour. I just loved the vibe if I’m completely honest.

HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE NAME ‘DESOLATED’?

I honestly can’t remember I think it was one of my friends because I couldn’t think of anything really.

WHO HAS BEEN SOME OF THE LARGEST INFLUENCES IN YOUR SOUND?

I think it has always changed really but some of my favourite records still influence me today. I loved old school Terror growing up, Killing The Dream, Cruel Hand and Trapped Under Ice.

I still listen to a lot Trapped Under Ice for influence as I think they are probably some of the greatest records ever.

WHAT HAS BEEN SOME OF THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES YOU’VE BEEN FACED WITH?

On going member changes has been a struggle over the years and now the biggest problem is other people having other commitments.

We’re still trying to push this as hard as we can but we have to do it at more of a calculated pace.

WHO ARE SOME OF YOUR ALL TIME FAVOURITE ARTISTS?

Trapped Under Ice, King Nine, Rival Mob, Warzone.

WHAT ARE THE TOP 3 SHOWS YOU’VE HAD THE PRIVILEDGE TO PLAY TO DATE?

I think playing Chain Reaction in LA was a really big deal for us.

Bloodaxe Festival in Tokyo and Resurrection Fest in Viveiro, Spain was really fun.

WHAT WOULD BE YOUR DREAM TOUR TO BE ON?

I don’t really know to be honest, I like all sorts of tours I’d love to do a big USA tour again with some wicked bands.

WHAT HAS BEEN SOME OF THE CRAZIEST EXPERIENCES YOU’VE HAD TOGETHER OVER THE YEARS?

When we were in Malaysia our fill in drummer forgot to fill in his visa paper work, this lead to being unable to leave the country and had to travel back to Singapore.

That was the wildest thing that’s happened in a long time.

HOW DID YOU GUYS COMES BACK TOGETHER FOLLOWING A BRIEF SPELL AWAY FROM THE SCENE?

We just spent time away writing music, we just needed a break.

I don’t think the people in it at that time were able to fully commit to touring and being in a band, myself included.

So we just needed some time to breathe and approach a new record in a different way.

HOW HAS IT BEEN WORKING WITH THE MALEVOLENCE (MLVLTD) TEAM IN RECENT YEARS?

It’s great, Charlie is the homie, even if he can’t play many shows with us these days he’s part of the family.

WE CAN’T ALL BE MUSICIANS 24/7 SO WHAT JOBS/CAREERS DO YOU GUYS HAVE? 

We all do a wide variety of things, I am a Psych Nurse, Les is an Archaeologist, Tony is a born again Barber.

The rest of the people that are playing with us, are kind of full time musicians now which is cool.

HAVE YOU GOT ANY HOBBIES/INTERESTS THAT YOU’D LIKE TO SHARE WITH THE PEOPLE?

Man, I have some many hobbies, I’ve even branded them as ‘Rich based activities‘.

Currently they include art, making music vids for other bands and skating.

WHAT WERE YOUR INFLUENCES FOR YOUR RECENTLY RELEASED ALBUM ‘FINDING PEACE’ & HOW HAPPY WERE YOU WITH HOW IT CAME OUT?

I think for the most part we were really influenced by the new wave of hardcore that’s about these days.

We recorded the drums at Treehouse in Sheffield and everything else was at my house in London.

We then sent it over to Will Putney to mix which was a dream come true.

WHAT CAN WE EXPECT TO SEE FROM YOU GUYS TOWARDS THE END OF 2025 & INTO 2026?

We have an EU tour wrapping up the year which starts in a few weeks with Bayway, D Bloc and Side Step. We will probably start looking at writing an EP or a split at some point as well.

As for 2026 we’ve got a couple of shows with Incendiary & we’re gonna hit up some places we’ve never been to before.

FINALLY, HAVE YOU GOT ANY OTHER ARTISTS/FRIENDS YOU THINK THE PEOPLE SHOULD CHECK OUT?

D Bloc from Detroit; hardest band I’ve ever heard.

You can catch Desolated this December on their european release tour for Finding Peace.
For select dates see the poster below.

You can also get at Richy for your music video needs. He has worked with some of the most up and coming artists within the UK hardcore community today with the likes of False Reality, Jawless, Divine Hatred & he has even filmed Desolated’s latest music video for their track Lessons.

Find out more by enquiring through his instagram account (@richyunsworth).

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