Death Warmed Up Talk Debut Album, New Single And More

 Rising British hard rock outfit DEATH WARMED UP are ready to make serious noise with the announcement of their debut album, Wildcard, out on Friday 17th April 2026. We sat down with them:

 

Who is in Death Warmed Up, how did you meet and what do you play?

Death Warmed Up currently consists of Will Evans – Lead Singer and Charlie Willis – Lead Guitarist. Recently we’ve had our drummer (Alex Keeling), bassist (Romarno O,Reilly) and rhythm guitarist (Lewis Potter) leave the band.

I (Charlie) met Lewis in college, where we worked on projects together and decided to form a band. I knew Romarno from school, we met Will who was the year above us in college and we found Alex on a musicians wanted website.

What is your earliest musical memory?

Here is an answer from each of us:

Charlie: I remember being introduced to Queen at a young age, around the time I started playing guitar in primary school. I was instantly hooked and Brian May is and always will be my biggest inspiration and favourite guitarist. The Freddie Mercury tribute show was a brilliant introduction to so many of my favourite artists like Guns N Roses and Def Leppard, my love of guitar and music has grown since.

Will: I also found my love of music through Queen, I made my parents listen to them every day to and from school.

When did you begin songwriting?

Lewis and I began songwriting in college, it was the first thing we did as a band as it was what made us decide to form the band. As time went on the songwriting grew to include Will more and our sound shifted, now Will and I do nearly all of the songwriting and probably 75-80% of WILDCARD was written by Will and I.

You have your debut album ‘Wildcard’ is released on 17th April 2026. How did you want to approach the making of the album?

It was always in the back of our minds that an album was something we aspired to create, we’d been writing songs for a long time before we went into making the album and we’d played them live for quite a while too, so we knew it was time to get them recorded. The track order was something we took a lot of time deciding on, there are a good mix of slightly heavier tracks, pure rock and roll and some more sleazy 80s sounding songs. We wanted it to seem like a live playthrough of all the tracks, start high energy and keep it there, then go a little heavier before bringing things back in the middle, then craziness at the end. What started out as a collection of songs morphed into a well produced, tight album.

Where did you record the album and who produced it?

We recorded the album in our university studios, which gave us access to some great equipment. The album was mixed by Phil Salter (Phil The Mix Engineer), he took on board our references and produced something that was exactly the vision we had. It was mastered by Toby Campden, he managed to bring the tracks to life, it was really the icing on the cake.

Do you have any interesting, funny or memorable stories from the recording sessions?

When sorting through all of the takes there were some hilarious mistakes from Will in there, including some comments on the bass solo. Other than that nothing springs to mind.

Did you use any particular instruments, microphones, recording equipment to help you get a particular sound/tone for the record?

We put microphones everywhere in the drum room and experimented with the positioning on all drums. We wanted to capture every aspect of the real drum sound, to give us the maximum amount of sonic space for Phil to work with. The stars of the show for the drums were the AKG C414 overheads and the Aston Spirits we used as room mics.

For the guitars all tracks were done using my Orange OR30 amp head in a few different configurations. For the rhythm tracks it was very low gain with an MXR Micro Amp in front, for the lead tracks I altered the EQ and used it with a Nobels ODR-1 or a Fryer Treble Booster Deluxe.
We used some different cabinets, a Marshall 1960a for the rhythm tracks micd with an SM57 and a beyerdynamic M160 with an Aston Spirit in the room.

For the lead tracks and layers I used an Orange 4×12 with a Sennheiser MD421, the M160 and an AKG C414 in the room.
I used my Gibson Les Paul for everything except where I needed a whammy bar, for that I used my Ibanez RG Prestige.

Which of your new album tracks hear you at your a) happiest, b) angriest and c) most reflective?

Our happiest track is probably Death Warmed Up, it’s always a high point in our shows.

The angriest track would be Chains Of Hate, that song is pure chaos.

Our most reflective would be Rising Star, it gives a moment to wind down and take a moment before the  tsunami of volume hits again.

Was it a difficult album to write?

The album came together really easily, it definitely represents an era of our sound and we knew once it was complete we had a well constructed group of tracks

Who designed the album artwork?

The photo was taken by Scarlett Corbett and the logos were made by Elliot Dickinson, both local independent artists.

One of the tracks is the single ‘God’s Of Rock’N’ Roll’. What was the story/inspiration behind the track?

At the time our songwriting was quite a complex process, using every bit of instrumentation we could to craft lots of layers and harmonies. After seeing an Asomvel show I wrote the main riff and wanted the song to be a straight up hard hitting rock song, inspired by the likes of AC/DC, Airbourne and Asomvel. So much so the track has garnered the nickname Asomvel among the band. The lyrics have references to the best things on Rock like ‘blowing our amps’ and being ‘the loudest in the land’, all inspired by who we see as the Gods Of Rock And Roll.

The track is accompanied by an official music video. What was the thought process behind the video and who directed it?

The music video is a lyric video with a visualiser, this was necessary due to the situation our former bandmates left us in. We wanted to match the energy of the song with its video and there’s no better way than for it to feature our heroes, the ‘Gods Of Rock And Roll’. The video was created in house, Will is an expert with all things video editing.

Where is your hometown and could you please describe it in five words?

Our hometown is Nottingham, in the East Midlands. Five words we’d use to describe it would be: Vibrant, Historic, Creative, Diverse, Friendly.

How do you look after your voices?

Will is the only one of us who can sing, trust us we’ve tried, our attempts at backing vocals were hilarious. He has a very basic routine, which includes, drinking lots of water, some simple warm ups (sirens, lip trills) and using vocalzone pastilles for when he’s feeling a little congested.

Do you have any live dates planned in the UK/Europe in 2026?

We have some festival dates booked in 2026, including Breaking Bands Festival, HRH Sleaze 9 and Destination festival. We did have a tour booked in May, however that has been postponed due to the departure of our bandmates. We are rescheduling and we will be back to playing live again in the summer and we’ll be playing lots towards the end of this year.

What two things do you hope to have achieved once you have left the stage?

Our aim is for our audiences to have a good time, whether they’ve seen us before or not. We hope they will leave a DWU fan and be wanting more. If people have danced, sung and participated with us, we are happy.

Do you have any favoured stage instruments, effects, pedals, microphones etc?

Every show we have played I have used my 2022 Gibson Les Paul Standard 60’s, I use other guitars for different tunings etc but as soon as I can get my Les Paul back I do.

Will uses Sennheiser Microphones, we love all Sennheiser stuff, it sounds great and is very roadworthy.

You are given the opportunity to write the score for a film adaptation of a novel that you enjoy. Which novel is it and why?

This was Will’s answer. I’d write the score for 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, it would give a good opportunity to create lots of different textures and tones within the music.

Who are some of your musical influences? Do you have any recommendations?

Our biggest influences as a band are Def Leppard, others include Queen, Whitesnake, Mr Big and Ozzy Osbourne. We’ve come across some great grassroots bands along the way, you should definitely check out Paradise Sins, White Lightning and StopStop!

What makes Death Warmed Up happy and what makes you unhappy?

Playing live to a great crowd always makes us happy and nothing beats cranking up our amps and playing blisteringly loud. Things that make us unhappy include: any sort of unfairness and unkindness, bad stage sound and terrible drivers!

 

 

Feature Image Photo Credit: Scarlett Corbett

Death Warmed Up’s debut album ‘Wildcard’,  is out on Friday 17th April 2026.

Their latest single ‘Gods Of Rock N Roll’ is out now. 

Official LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/deathwarmedup