Foto-© Vlad Woodham Smith
Manchester bleibt eine der spannendsten Brutstätten für neue Gitarrenbands und The Guest List gehören aktuell zu den heißesten Namen, die von dort in Richtung großer Bühnen aufbrechen. Das Quintett hat sich in den vergangenen Jahren mit energiegeladenen Liveshows, starken Songs und einer stetig wachsenden Fanbase einen Namen gemacht. Medien wie Rolling Stone UK, The Independent oder Dork sehen in der Band längst einen der aussichtsreichsten Kandidaten für den nächsten großen Indie-Durchbruch. Nach Festivalauftritten beim Glastonbury, TRNSMT oder Isle Of Wight und Supportshows für Acts wie Blossoms, DMA’S und Inhaler scheint 2026 tatsächlich das Jahr zu werden, in dem sich Fleiß, Ambition und Talent endgültig auszahlen.
Denn das Debütalbum Something Real ist seit Ende August draußen. Statt sich mit belanglosen Themen aufzuhalten, widmet sich die Band dabei den großen Fragen unserer Zeit: mentale Gesundheit, gesellschaftlicher Druck, toxische Männlichkeitsbilder oder die Suche nach echter Verbindung in einer zunehmend überreizten Welt. Gemeinsam mit Produzent Matias Tellez in Norwegen entstanden, ist Something Real ein ebenso persönliches wie mutiges Debüt. Wir stellen euch die junge Newcomer-Band in unserem Interview vor, bevor es im Oktober auch in Deutschland auf Tour geht für The Guest List!
– Name: The Guest List
– Band members: Cai, Angus, Tom, Leio and Sid
– Founding year: 2021
– Location: Altrincham, Manchester
– Album: Something Real
You all met as school friends and music students before forming The Guest List in 2021. Looking back now, was there a specific moment when you realised this could become much more than just a school band?
I’d probably say in our last year at school was when things really took off for us. We’d started playing gigs supporting acts we’d spent our whole childhoods listening to like Wombats and Two Door Cinema Club and at that point we started having the feeling that it was gonna be sustainable leaving school.
Before releasing original music, you already built a significant online following through indie cover versions. What did that period teach you about songwriting, audience connection and finding your own identity as a band?
Learning how to play other people’s songs was the way that most of us really progressed at our instruments. Digging into arrangements and picking apart what’s been written and played taught us a lot about music on a whole. It was odd connecting with an audience at this time because we would be getting millions of views on a video and then a week later we’d play to 10 people in Birmingham on one of our first headline shows
A lot of bands struggle to make the transition from covering other artists to creating a sound that is genuinely their own. When did you feel The Guest List had found its own voice?
We’d always had our own tunes that we’d play alongside these covers in rehearsal and over time they naturally took over what we were doing and posting covers felt more like a means to an end of giving our own music traction. We eventually decided that we’d stop posting covers altogether when we realised our own music could stand up on its own and that’s what we wanted our footprint to be, not a cover band.
In just a few years, you’ve gone from rehearsing as friends at school to playing festivals and being tipped as one of the UK’s most exciting new guitar bands. What have been the biggest challenges behind that journey that fans perhaps don’t see?
I think we didn’t expect it to be as hard controlling what people think of you. So much time and effort goes into each song, it can be unnerving knowing that once it’s out, the success it gets is in the hands of people who weren’t there for any of that process.
Comparisons have ranged from Arctic Monkeys and Sam Fender to Radiohead and even Joni Mitchell. Which artists have genuinely shaped your songwriting, and are there influences in your music that people rarely pick up on?
More recent acoustic artists like Adrianne Lenker and Sufjan Stevens have been big lyrical inspirations on the more recent songs. I’ve tried to bring out a similar sense of honesty and directness in our lyrics.
You’ve worked with both James Skelly and Matias Tellez. How have those collaborations influenced your growth as musicians and songwriters, and what did each of them bring to the table?
James taught us how to cut the fat off a song and make all of the parts of an arrangement necessary and useful. He also stressed a huge emphasis on authenticity. Matias has a very relaxed approach to recording, trying to capture the live energy of a track without too much overdubbing. He also brings a lot to the production side from his experience working in dream pop.
You chose to record Something Real in Bergen, Norway. How much did the surroundings, the atmosphere and simply being away from home shape the mood and character of the album?
Bergen was an amazing place to record and none of us had ever been anywhere like it. Being away recording let us fully throw ourselves into the whole album and give it the best representation of us as a band that we could.
In your own word: what would you say is the album about?
Each song on the album has its own unique narrative thread, but as a whole it represents us as a group of 5 mates who share a love for music, and a want to reach for something that is uniquely ours.
This album tackles topics such as mental health, climate anxiety, domestic violence and online outrage culture, while still feeling very personal. Was it important for you to balance social commentary with individual human stories?
The songs came through over the course of 3 years so I think it’s natural they reflects different moments in my life. Some are personal and some more narrative based, but even for the latter I tried to write in an intimate way. There’s so much going on at the minute both outside and in our own experiences as a band that I’m never short of things to write about.
We live in an era dominated by playlists, algorithms and short attention spans. As a young band, why was it important for you to create a full-length album and what importance has the format still for you?
When we think of the music we’ve listened to growing up and the bands we look back on, we always think of the albums defining those eras. For us the dream was always to put out a full album and we were glad to finally be given the opportunity to do so and we hope we’ve done it justice.
Debut albums often become a reference point that follows a band for years. Do you view Something Real as a snapshot of where The Guest List are right now, or as a statement of what you want the band to become in the future?
It represents us now and where we’ve been. You get a long time to write your first album so it’s natural that it’s process that you learn through. I can hear different moments in our progression as a recording band and a live band listening to the album. Looking forward though we have plenty of more music on the way.
The title track Something Real takes aim at algorithm-driven division, outrage culture and a world where, as the song puts it, even hate can feel „on trend“. What inspired those lyrics, and do you see the song as a reflection of frustration, hope, or both?
The lyrics come from a place of frustration particularly with social media. We’ve had the experience trying to break through online, and being drowned out by the hateful echo chambers that dominate people’s feeds. We wanted the song to feel optimistic though, which is why we leant into a weirdness in the visuals and kept the song upbeat.
You Should Care feels much more intimate and vulnerable than the title track. What is the story behind the song, and was there a particular experience or emotion that inspired its lyrics?
You Should Care is about all the feelings of paranoia and coldness that come with being in a long distance relationship. I think this is an experience that most of us encounter when relationships are stretched growing up, and it’s definitely one where I feel closest with the crowd when playing it live.
Which song on Something Real surprised you the most during the recording process, either because it evolved dramatically or took on a different meaning than you originally expected?
I didn’t expect Devil to be a single when I first wrote it. It was the last song to be written for the album and at the time felt like more of a necessary piece than a stand out. Once we’d developed it in the studio though, and added the string arrangement, it felt like one of the most powerful songs on the record.
Having experienced such rapid growth already, what do you want people to understand about The Guest List in 2026 that they perhaps haven’t fully seen yet?
I would hope the band chemistry would come across. I think there’s a danger in coming across as pessimistic when you try and write meaningful songs, but really we’re just a group of mates who like playing and recording music together.
If the 16-year-old versions of yourselves could hear Something Real today, what do you think they’d make of it?
I think they’d be happy we stuck to our guns and did an album. Loads of people say there’s no point doing one nowadays, at least not commercially. I’m glad we focused on the craft and did ourselves justice artistically.
The Guest List Tour:
25.10.26 Köln, Artheater
27.10.26 Berlin, Badehaus
28.10.26 Hamburg, Turmzimmer
