Formed in the depths of the south east of Englandthese lads came together in Kent to create the heavyness we now know as Warden.

Their death metal hardcore style can only be explained by themselves as ‘Black Dahlia with breakdowns’ and you’d understand why from their live performances and a snipper of their early works through their debut EP ‘The Art Of Reanimation’.

Although quoted by themselves as perfectionists as they navigate through their current change in style you can feel their influences and writing style change to make something even more incredible.

I caught up with the guys a while back to find out more about their influences, their becomings and their relationship with the hardcore scene.

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

We’re spread around the southeast, but mainly Kent. I’m from Maidstone, but the other guys are in Ashford, Deal, and Benfleet. I met Mez a few years back and we talked about getting something started, so got in touch with Ash, George, Shaun, and eventually Bailey when Shaun left to focus on his new band Itscoldoutiskms (Insane band, check them out). I think the band properly formed towards the end of 2024.

Mez had played in a few bands before, George and Shaun had played in Fox Strikes together among a few other projects, and Bailey had recently started Sanguine Rose when he joined us. For me and Ash it was the first band we’d played in. 

WHAT WAS THE SCENE LIKE WHERE YOU WERE GROWING UP & HOW DID YOU GET INVOLVED IN IT?

We’ve all grown up with music, and I think for most of us the hardcore scene was introduced by people older than us, either siblings or friends. Kent has a small but tight knit scene, and it’s growing more and more. We’ve got a couple reliable promoters and have moved between a few venues over the past couple years. It’s weird because we’re so close to London which obviously has some crazy shows, but you can’t really beat local bands on your home soil. 

THIS MIGHT SOUND LIKE A DUMBASS QUESTION BUT HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE NAME WARDEN?

The name comes from the game For Honor. We’d jumped from idea to idea, but none of them really struck us. I think it was just at the point we were starting to get desperate that Ash said “why don’t we just call it Warden?” and it’s just always seemed right since then.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR SOUND TO SOMEBODY WHO HASN’T HEARD YOU BEFORE?

I normally tell people it’s Black Dahlia with breakdowns. We took a load of inspiration from As Blood Runs Black, At The Gates, and TBDM when writing the first couple songs. It’s evolved slightly since then and we’re working in some more techy parts for the new music. We’ve all been bumping loads of Despised Icon and Animosity, and it shows in the tracks we’ve been writing. Hopefully we can introduce them live soon. We get labelled all sorts really. Melodeath, Deathcore, Metalcore, Rock music!

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

To be honest the biggest challenge we’ve faced is being satisfied with the ideas we come up with. I think we’ve all got a bit of perfectionist in us, and it’s taken a while especially for the new songs to get them to a point we are all happy with. Practice can sometimes be a pain where we are spread apart, but we make it work and all stay motivated. 

WHO ARE SOME OF YOUR ALL TIME FAVOURITE ARTISTS?

Off the top of the dome:

Sam- The Black Dahlia Murder, 100 Demons, The Smiths, Elysia. 

George- Repentance, The Khayembii Communique, Joy Division, Lil Peep.

Bailey- Renounced, Darkest Hour, Shai Hulud, Undying.

Mez- Animosity, Origin, Deeds Of Flesh, Heinous Killings.

Ash- Pantera, Dying Fetus, Conducting From The Grave, Crepitation. 

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE SHOWS YOU’VE REALLY ENJOYED BEING A PART OF & DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE VENUE?

We played with Instinctive in Ashford in October and had a load of fun with them. Put on by mates, room filled with mates, and left with some new Italian mates. 

Theo of Real Life Presents always sorts us out with some awesome shows, and New Cross is always a great opportunity to see people we haven’t seen in a while. 

We did a little weekender tour with the guys in Infected Dead last month, and all had a blast. They’re super cool people to hang out with and it was cool to travel to some new cities.

WHAT WOULD BE YOUR DREAM TOUR TO GET WARDEN ON?  

Dream tour would be any of the favourite bands we mentioned realistically. Festival wise, I think Trustkill’s Hellfest would be the dream. This years lineup is utterly ridiculous.

WHAT HAS BEEN SOME OF THE BEST EXPERIENCES YOU’VE HAD TOGETHER?

We love a Warden weekend. Some highlights have been birthday get togethers, visiting Warden on the Isle of Sheppey, spending 2 days together in the studio (shoutout Jason at Century Audio) and other random side quests we’ve been on.

HOW HAVE YOU FOUND THE SCENE CHANGE IN RECENT YEARS?

Locally, the scene has come back from the grave. Harry and Dan of Blood Soaked Style started putting on shows in Maidstone in 2022, and that was the first action Kent had seen for a while. From that point shows started happening more often, both weekdays and weekends, and for the most part were always busy. It’s having a bit of a dry spell at the moment, but people are busy, it’s hard to find time to get away from work and other life business. Hats off to all the promoters out there, it’s not an easy task. I’m sure it’ll pick up again soon, it’s what the people want!

HOW IMPORTANT IS REPRESENTATION IN THE HARDCORE COMMUNITY?

Representation, individuality and diversity is everything. Hardcore thrives off its community. I’m a firm believer that everyone is welcome, but everyone must be accepting and supporting of all their peers, regardless of background, race, sexuality, etc. 

Bigots miss out on all the best things because of their hatred, including music. 

I’m a Type 1 Diabetic, so I myself fall under the many members of the scene affected by a disability. Ever since I saw Joey Chiaramonte of Koyo proudly showing his Continuous Glucose Monitor on stage, I’ve done the same, and have since had interactions with quite a few people that have noticed and then shared their personal experience. There’s always going to be those who judge bands based on racist, misogynistic and homophobic views, but they’ll never be welcome. And they’re normally in awful bands too. 

WE MEET A LOT OF PEOPLE IN THIS SCENE. DO YOU HAVE A GREAT CONNECTION WITH ANYONE IN PARTICULAR AND WOULD RECOMMEND WORKING WITH?

As I mentioned before, we recorded the first EP with Jason Frye of Century Audio Recordings. He’s a local legend and has helped so many bands over the years. It’s a super relaxed environment, and he’s so knowledgeable, so we would definitely recommend him. 

All our merch is done by VinoSangre. The quality is unmatched, they’re fast, affordable and great at communicating.  

When it comes to putting our music out, Uncle Jesse of VaeVictusHC did us a solid and hand made 30 tapes for us. They sold straight away, and are super special to us. 

Him and Dan of VVHC have helped us out a bunch over the past year, so shoutout to them both.

Our mate Leo runs NewYouth and has always been down to travel around with us to different shows, aswell as putting us on multiple times.

Our mate Jamie runs Beyond The Gates Promo in the northeast, and he’s sorted our CD’s recently. Once again, super amazing at what they do, and grateful to be working alongside our best mates. The list goes on, we have so many amazing people in our lives that we are super grateful for, they will know who they are! 

WHO HAS BEEN SOME OF YOUR LARGEST INFLUENCES FOR YOUR MUSIC?

Biggest influences to name a few:

The Black Dahlia Murder, Animosity, Winds of Plague, Eternal Lord, Where Eagles Dare, As Blood Runs Black, Despised Icon, Early BMTH, Darkest Hour, Whitechapel, Deeds of Flesh. 

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

Me and Bailey both work supermarket jobs. Ash works at the Vans store.

George is smarter than all of us and works an IT based role for the NHS. 

Mez has got a job at a warehouse 

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

We’re all pretty big gamers. A few of us including myself are big on collecting physical media. Some of us like beer, some of us don’t. Me and Ash are huge batman nerds. Loads of other random stuff, cooking, WH40K, merch hunting, niche xbox 360 games, horror movies, smokin weed, eating sugar, not eating sugar. Eating good food. I have to watch my sugar levels, and George is vegan so we have a few things to consider when choosing the spot. We went to an all you can eat Chinese buffet in Nottingham recently which was mad.

YOU RELEASED YOUR DEBUT EP ‘THE ART OF REANIMATION’ BACK IN JANUARY. WHAT WERE YOUR INFLUENCES FOR THESE TRACKS AND HOW HAPPY WERE YOU WITH HOW IT CAME TOGETHER?

The EP was essentially our demo, we just didn’t want to call it that. Apart from the intro which was changed before, they’re the first three songs we wrote. I think A Date With The Grave is the best representation of us as it stands now. It was the one we wrote most recently as our sound was starting to shift slightly.

We’re all happy with it, but are keen to get new stuff perfected, recorded and released. It was recorded with Jason, mixed by Ash, and released under VaeVictus. The artwork was done by Emma of Deadrosedesigns! We’re hoping to get some features on the new record, we’ve started getting ideas together and are gonna approach people when the time is right. I’ve actually recorded a feature for some friends which will be released later on in the year, excited for everyone to hear that! 

WHAT CAN WE EXPECT TO SEE FROM YOU GUYS FOR THE REST OF 2026?

The rest of 2026 is super exciting for us! We’ve got new songs to debut live, some super cool announcements, loads of merch designs, and a bunch of really fun shows coming up. Always looking forward to what comes next. 

There’s some more great shows coming up soon, including the final Cut & Run Collective show which will be sick. We’ve also been added to the line up for Reality Unfolds 27 next January!

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

For our Kent family, check out:

Freeze, Swear Down, Mindless, Wasting Thirst, Sarah Tonin, Render, Locusts, Infected Dead, Rebel, Itscoldoutiskms, Convulsion + many more.

Shoutout also to:

Dear Diary, You Will Die, Blood Gutter, Parasthesia, Outlive, Instinctive, Claymore,

Instrument Of God, Bodybag, Bullet, Make Way, Sworn Truth, Arbiter, Sanguine Rose, Moral Bombing, Nihilith, Splitknuckle, imissyoualready, Regress, Big Smoke, Toil, Toothache.

You can catch Warden next at the end of September as the final Cut & Run Collective show at Signature Brew Haggerston on September 26th. Go and support these guys with this show as they have been a proper asset to the London scene over the last few years!

Cut & Run Collective Final Show Tickets

Keep supporting local bands and promoters and of course DIY UKHC.

You can listen to Warden on all major streaming services now!
So go and give it a listen.

For further show information keep an eye out on their socials @wardensoutheast

Until next time, I’ll catch you in the pit!

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