Godsticks latest album VoID is amongst their best, and for me, marks the latest step in the band’s evolution. We spoke earlier with singer/guitarist/keyboardist/founder Darran Charles, where he shared that “the only reason you play heavy music is that, for me, that’s the best stuff to do in life. I just love it.” Here is Part Two. You can read Part One here.
One of Darran Charles’s other roles is writing for Guitar magazine. He writes well, and his articles are worth checking out, even the technical ones, which I admit, flummoxed me.
I reflect on an article he wrote in July 2024 titled Why The Future Of Prog Is No Longer Rooted In The Past. In it, he bigs up several bands, including Wheel and Caligula’s Horse. Two bands with huge potential, but who are not playing venues any bigger than Godsticks.
I wonder if the music is just too intelligent for many, but Darran says there is no such thing. “Certain things require patience, I think,” he says. “There are a lot of bands that you can’t have on in the background. You wouldn’t say Radiohead is a shit band, but I couldn’t have them in the background at all. They’re annoying, if anything, in the background. But they’re also one of the greatest bands that have ever existed, in my opinion.
“But some things require patience, a lot of patience. And these days, you don’t have to have it. That’s not even a criticism, because I’ve got a lack of patience myself. There’s always a certain immediacy that’s required when you consume music the way you’re forced to consume music these days.
“You are forced to consume it digitally because, you know, CD players don’t exist anymore. When everything is there at a touch, you don’t appreciate anything.”
Darran is clear that he is not being derogatory.
“I’m not necessarily slagging anybody off, it’s just the way we’re all being conditioned now. I don’t give much time or effort for something else to grab you because I’m just playing playlists all day. Whereas I genuinely, genuinely, truly miss those days when you’d buy a CD and use it. You’d only have one slot in your CD player.
“I can’t tell you how many albums I’ve got into and bands that I’ve gone on to worship that I really disliked at first on the first play.
“I remember when I got this album called Release The Stars by Rufus Wainwright. I remember buying that about ten years ago. And I hated it. But it was the only CD player in the car at the time, so it was just left in. And after a couple of days, I just fell in love with it because it required time. It wasn’t immediate.
“Meshuggah were the same for me. Chaosphere, I think it was. I put that on in the car, and I thought, what’s the fuss about this? Initially, I thought, this is the most dreadful pile of shit. And again, it was the only CD I had in. So, it was constantly playing. And by the end of the week. I now consider them the greatest Metal band to have ever existed. I worship Meshuggah. They’re up there with Radiohead. But think about how many bands we don’t know. We’ve all lost our patience.”
I think we can relate to Darran’s point. We discuss the changing way of listening to music, especially in the car when travelling, and I explain that my car doesn’t even have a USB port.
We are forced into it in a sense. I think Darran is right when he says, “as we grow older, you have everything, you appreciate nothing.”
Having gone through a severe lack of inspiration during the pandemic, it must have been a huge relief that when Godsticks started playing live again, Darran found some motivation.
He explains more. “When we were able to go and play live again, it reignited the inspiration a lot. We still write so the music appeals to us first and foremost. That’s where the great paradox is for me as well. If the ticket sales are not going great and whatnot, I can’t stop playing live.
“If I stopped playing live, or I stopped writing music? I never thought that would be the case because when I first started out, I never had any intention of being in a band. I just wanted to write music. And I didn’t really like playing live that much when we first started out. It seemed just a necessary evil in a sense.
“But then that just changed quite quickly, after a couple of years of playing. Maybe around 2015, it all changed. I realised so much how important it was and how important it was to be a good performer, put on a good performance live as well, because that’s just something that I didn’t really appreciate when we were first starting out.
“Then I started pretending that I was enjoying myself, right? I know that sounds mad. Then I start to actually enjoy myself. These days, touring for me is the opposite of my personality. I just like staying in this room. I don’t like talking to anybody. I don’t really talk to that many people. I don’t go out anywhere. It’s all music, music, music. That’s all I ever do.
“But touring and just being around the sense of camaraderie with the crew and things like that is the greatest thing I’ve ever done. It’s fantastic.”
Darran goes on to explore and explain that the energy that comes from the audience is what inspires him. He recounts a less-than-exciting Mastodon show in Bristol, where he felt that “they weren’t into it”.
As he says, “there is no greater compliment than someone who’s come to your gig to watch the songs that you’ve written. That means a massive amount, really, not for an ego thing, but being connected. That’s what I mean. That’s why it sounds weird for me, because I do feel I’m misanthropic, but I’m also like I do like people.”
We move on to the last time I saw Godsticks live, in 2024 at the Bunkhouse in Swansea. I explain that my review commented that although new bassist Francis George had not long joined, there was a lot of fun on stage.
“I loved that gig as well,” says Darran. “That was probably the best gig we’ve ever done in the UK. Definitely. My favourite is a gig we did in Paris back in 2017. But that Swansea one is my second one. That’s the epitome of the exchange of energy. We enjoyed ourselves even more because the crowd were enjoying themselves. We always take the music seriously. But I don’t take myself seriously at all. I generally take nothing seriously.
“I find most things funny, but music is the only thing I take seriously. I can’t see anything to top that gig for a while, to be honest, I dare say”. A few days after the interview, the band announced that their return to the Bunkhouse will be filmed live.
As we chat, I recall seeing Darran playing with The Pineapple Thief at the much-missed Bierkeller in Bristol in 2017, and we talk about who still influences him today. “I like a lot of pop music,” he says. “I like a lot of rap stuff as well. Like Kendrick, stuff like that. I still listen to a bit of Meshuggah as well. Again, that’s not background music, is it?”
I am laughing as Darran gets frustrated that he cannot remember who he has been listening to, to the point that he reaches for his phone to see recent streaming choices.
He reveals that Rage Against The Machine still feature and recalls a 2000 album called Renengades. “Covers of like rap songs. I discovered that a few years ago. I still listen to that. And also, Zach de la Rocha. He did an EP called One Day As A Lion. It was just him. [Note: it also involved The Mars Volta’s John Theodore and, later, Joey Karam of Locust.]
“He did five songs. That’s an amazing album. Absolutely amazing album. I love that. Run The Jewels. I’ve been listening to some Run The Jewels. I quite like that as well.”
Godsticks released VOiD on 27 March 2026 via Kscope. For more details visit godsticks.lnk.to/VOiDFA. Their tour kicks off on 17 April at the Hope & Anchor in London. Tour ticket links are available from here. The band also play SOS Festival, Oldham on 4 July 2026.
