Deaf Havana

Norfolk, England rock outfit Deaf Havana debuted with a sound that combined post-hardcore with anthemic pop-punk, akin to contemporaries like We Are the Ocean, the Blackout, and Young Guns. Later, their sound would change drastically, echoing the hard rock anthems of acts like Daughtry, Shinedown, and Lifehouse.

The group came together in 2005 when its original members—lead vocalist Ryan Mellor, guitarists James Veck-Gilodi and Sebastian Spitz (later replaced by Chris Pennells), bassist Lee Wilson, and drummer Tom Ogden—were still college students in Kings Lynn. They secured a deal with A Wolf at Your Door Records in 2008, then entered the studio the following year to cut their debut, Meet Me Halfway, At Least, under producer Matt O'Grady (You Me at Six). Mellor exited before the second album for personal reasons, prompting Veck-Gilodi to take over lead vocals. Fools and Worthless Liars appeared in 2011 and signaled the beginning of their sonic evolution. A deluxe edition followed, pairing the original track list with a second disc of the same songs reimagined in spare acoustic arrangements that highlighted the underlying musicianship and emotional weight beneath their typically aggressive approach. The band brought in Veck-Gilodi’s brother Matthew to expand both acoustic and electric guitar textures, while Max Britton joined on piano to broaden the overall palette.

After staging a series of intimate acoustic performances at London’s Union Chapel, the group tracked its third album, Old Souls, which surfaced in 2013. By then the music had moved even farther from the heavy riffs of the debut toward a more reflective pop/rock style marked by Springsteen references and harmonized choruses. Following the release of Old Souls the members nearly disbanded, yet ultimately chose to continue. Four years later they issued their fourth studio album, All These Countless Nights, in January 2017. Wasting little time, they returned to the studio and completed another record that arrived the next year; the pop-leaning Rituals landed that August and reached the Top Ten on the U.K. charts.

After issuing 2019’s Live at Brixton Academy and completing an extended tour of Asia and Australia, internal tensions caused the band to suspend all activity upon returning home. They came perilously close to splitting for good until a casual request to borrow a microphone sparked the Veck-Gilodi brothers writing and recording together once more. In 2021 they elected to move forward without Wilson, Ogden, and Britton; their first single as a duo, the radio-friendly “Going Clear,” emerged in January 2022 and preceded the sixth studio album, The Present Is a Foreign Land, which appeared later that year.