All The Villains have always had a taste for the cinematic. Formed in the early 2000s, the London-born outfit built their name on emotionally charged alt-rock anthems, relentless touring, and a tight-knit chemistry that carried them across stages from the UK to CBGBs in New York. But after a flurry of early success, life had other plans. The band scattered across the globe, their story paused but never fully closed.
Fast forward fifteen years and the embers never went out. Now rekindled with purpose, All The Villains return in 2026 with a defiant new single ‘Get Me To The Sea’, a euphoric burst of synth-laced alt-rock that channels yearning, escape, and catharsis into one visceral rush. It’s a track that sounds like freedom feels; vast, melodic, and alive with urgency.
Written across time zones and recorded at Ghost Hit Recording in Massachusetts with Grammy-nominated engineer Andrew Oedel and Abbey Road’s James Hawkins, ‘Get Me To The Sea’ marks both a creative and spiritual comeback. It’s the sound of a band reclaiming their voice, rooted in friendship, forged by distance, and fuelled by the same fire that lit up their 2007 debut Espionage.
We sat down with All The Villains to talk new beginnings, old bonds, and what it means to breathe again.
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Can you tell us a bit about your background and how you got started in music?
When we went into the studio, we filmed some interviews, talking about our individual backgrounds – watching them back it became clear that music was hardwired into each of us, but in so many different ways: Vinnie’s family was totally locked into the Shetland music scene, growing up; touring musicians sleeping on his parent’s couch. Marcelo was playing drums in a marching band as soon as he was old enough to hold the sticks; a lot of bass players are wannabe guitarists, with Goodie, bass is in his DNA, and me; my earliest memories are of my nan and grandad jamming old show tunes on piano and banjo. I think music was just an inescapable force for all of us.
Who are your biggest musical influences and how have they shaped your sound?
We’re as influenced by experience and place as we are by other artists. London is very much the backdrop to all of that. Our producer, who’s worked with us for a long time, said the other day: “your songs have shaped my relationship with London”. I thought it was the most beautiful thing anyone had ever said about our music.
Bowie is a big influence for me, personally. I live in South London near where he grew up, and discovered the other day that when I go shopping, I’ve been parking right outside the house he grew up in! I honestly had no idea! I saw an article on a local news site about how they were thinking of turning the place into a museum, just this very ordinary terraced house and I was like ‘Hang on! That’s where I park my car!’ How wild is that! It gave me chills when I realised.
Was there a specific moment or experience that made you decide to pursue music seriously?
That’s an easy one for me. When I was a teenager, I was watching the film Rattle & Hum on the telly in the living room. U2 are playing some insane stadium gig, somewhere in America. My mum walks past, glances at the screen and says, casually: ‘I can see you up there doing that’. The chaos she unleashed with that one remark!!
Years later when we were signed to Futureproof and playing our own little shows in the US, we had a stylist, briefly, same stylist as U2 at the time, it turned out. She even appears briefly in the film, so in some weird way there was a connection there.
Can you walk us through your typical songwriting process?
We’ve always written together but during the lockdown we started writing remotely, usually I would present an idea, or sometimes Vin would send through a musical sketch or whatever, and everyone else would just bring their magic to it and we’d build it from there.
There are very few acts in the world where every member is a key part of the band’s sound but it’s definitely the case with us. If you gave me ten million quid and said, go into the studio with anyone you want, I’d still choose these guys. And maybe add in Keith Richards, you know, for the Jack Daniels, and the vibe!
How do you find inspiration for your music and lyrics?
People, places, moments, feelings; the usual. Good lyrics are really important to me, and I try to work hard on them. I hate lazy clichés and avoid them like the plague! I have never and will never write a song with some anodyne shite in it like: “Oooh, baby, I miss you…Come back to me…” – or anything like that. Yawn!
I’m a filmmaker as well as a musician, I’ve always painted, too, and subconsciously I find that I tend to write visually: Get Me to the Sea, our new song, for example; take the opening line: “Your car is parked up on the drive, the windows golden in the sunrise” – I mean it’s not Shakespeare, I admit, but hopefully it creates a picture in the listener’s mind.
So many songs are about relationships, either entering into new ones or exiting old ones. I’ve personally never written that song. I’ve never explicitly written a love song, but in some tangential way all of the songs I’ve ever written are about love in some form; it’s just wrapped up in a lot of visual imagery and oblique wordplay. Or maybe I’m just too cowardly to express my actual feelings!! LOL.
What themes or messages do you hope listeners take away from your music?
I hope they create a relatable moment; a point of connection. I hope they provoke thought, ask questions, lead the listener on their own interpretive journey, create a dialogue between us and them.
We had a song on our second album called: Warm Light from a Distant Door – I always liked that title, for example, as it evokes different feelings in different people. I like presenting that ambiguity and letting the listener decide what direction they want to take it.
Words are powerful tools. I was inspired to write Get Me to the Sea when I saw the words Take Me to the Sea on a poster. ‘Get’ Me to the Sea; by changing that first word, it completely changes the emotional dynamic of the idea. It’s no longer gentle and charming; it gives it a wild energy; a sense of desperation, just by changing that one word.
What challenges have you faced as an emerging artist in the music industry?
We’ve been around a while and had varying degrees of success. I think the most disturbing thing for us and any artist these days is the prolific use of A.I, not just to write songs but to actually create whole fake artists, with fake pictures and fake backstories. I find that really worrying.
Our producer, Jim Hawkins, shared a video the other day where the presenter was saying over 21 million A.I-created tracks are uploaded to streaming channels every year. That’s a crazy number!!
I’m hopeful of a backlash though. Music is a deeply personal conversation between the artist and the listener, a human conversation, you can’t get that if one of the participants in that conversation is a machine. Ultimately, it just leaves you cold.
I think that’s one of the reasons why live music has had such a resurgence in recent years; that human connection is so important. It’s worrying though, how artificially generated music has taken off so fast, and gone so far, already.
What has been the most rewarding aspect of your musical journey so far?
There are just too many to count!
Back in the day we nearly caused a riot at a show when the soundman cut our audio feed after we overran, that was fun!
Another time: we were guests at this Bring on the Brits thing in New York, big roof party on Delancey Street, as we walked in, they were playing our latest song: Essex County Line, that felt good.
The time I was driving, and our song came on the radio, that was pretty special. The first time we performed live on the radio; that was terrifying. The post-gig buzz of a show played well to a receptive crowd; that’s hard to top!
Those moments of connection: people telling you how your song got them through a difficult time, or how they play your song before heading out for the night, or the many other ways in which you realise that a universal connection has been made. It’s an incredible privilege to be a musician and be able to connect with people you’ll likely never meet in that almost existential, even spiritual, way.
And of course, re-uniting to record these current tracks at the incredible Ghost Hit Recording in Massachusetts; that was just wonderful. The first song we recorded was a track called A.I, we’d not shared a studio in many years, Vin and I sat opposite each other and played the same guitar line to create a slightly phased stereo effect; just sat down and got on with it. Marcelo and Goodie were in the control room, chatting through a rhythm part. All those years just vanished in a moment, back doing what we do best. Magical.
How do you stay true to yourself and your artistry in a constantly evolving industry?
That’s easy. Just write from the heart. Don’t try and write to sound like someone or to be something; be honest. Accept what flows to you; and have good personal quality control, accept when an idea isn’t working, or isn’t good enough, don’t try and beat it into shape. I can’t tell you the number of ideas I’ve shelved halfway through working on them because they just weren’t coming together.
Write what comes to you, and then, if you’re lucky enough to be able to do so, let your band and your producer shape it into what feels right for them. Personally, I am not protective of what I’ve written by that point. Quite the opposite, in fact. I’m always excited to see what everyone else is going to bring to the song. I love that moment where you go: woah, I hadn’t thought to do that, it’s surprising, but what the hell, I love it!
What can fans expect from you in the near future? Any upcoming projects or tours?
We are desperate to take these songs on the road. Logistically, it’s tough cos we’re scattered all over the world, but we’re determined to make it happen. These tracks have such energy, passion, drive, and the guys are all phenomenal powerhouse live musicians so it would bring the songs to a whole other level, dynamically. It’s a tough one, but it’s going to happen. Watch this space!
Where do you see yourself and your music career in the next five years?
Well, we’ve got two albums, a load of singles and a gazillion demos under our belts, and every song just keeps getting better than the last. So, we’re just going to keep writing, keep recording and hopefully start playing live again. We already have about another forty tracks demoed. Personally, I’d love to pick the best 10-15 of them and take them into the studio, let the band, producer and studio do their mystical thing, and see how they evolve.
We don’t make music to be rock stars, we do it because it’s hardwired into us, it’s not by choice, it’s predestined. And, as I say, for some reason, the songs keep getting better! I fully plan to release an album on my 90th, maybe 100th birthday, and I can tell you now, it’s going to be an absolute banger!
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Listen to All The Villains’ new single ‘Get Me To The Sea’ below.
