The London melodic hardcore/emo group Death Of Youth are this week’s featured Meet The Band artist. Their full-length debut album is Nothing Is The Same Anymore. Vocalist Rob David, guitarist Joe Arnold, bassist Carlos Zelaya and drummer William Page introduce us to their band.
Chad Bowar: Give us a brief history of Death Of Youth.
Rob David: Death of Youth began life as my bedroom project back in 2018 after my first band ended up winding down due life taking us in different directions. I had a desire to create music in the vein of bands like Touché Amore and La Dispute as well as 2010’s UK melodic hardcore bands such as Departures, Vales, Goodtime Boys, and More Than Life but struggled to find likeminded people to start a band with so set about writing music by myself and getting the songs recorded with my friend Mike.
We did two EP’s with this approach (2018’s Between Chapters and 2020’s Suburban Dystopia) and then I put the project on hold in 2022 to focus on other things. Then in 2024, I decided to get a one off show together and Joe and Will were both up for helping me bring it to the stage to give these songs a chance to be played live. We all had a blast preparing for the show, so we decided to keep things going and get some new music out there. Then in early 2025, we recruited Carlos to play bass and it felt like the missing piece of the puzzle!
Describe the songwriting process for Nothing Is The Same Anymore.
Rob: The beginnings of a song usually start with me playing around on guitar and finding a nice sounding chord that I play around with a bit more – finding different variations of chords that compliment it and seeing how the chords sound when you just pick the single notes and then seeing what works for the finished song. That process was pretty seamless throughout the writing for the album.
About half the songs on the album (“Fix Your Heart or Die,” “Rumination,” “The Inverse of Patriotism” and “Nothing Is The Same Anymore”) were written in between the previous EP Suburban Dystopia and the brief hiatus. I’d always intended to follow up that EP with an album so those songs were the beginning of that process which culminated in 2024 when we decided to do more with the project and I wrote a few more songs to beef out the selection of tracks and help bridge the existing songs together a bit more seamlessly. Then in the studio, the rest of the band would add their own ideas and contributions to my songs and make their own, and the additional contributions made the songs better.
What will be your strongest memory of the recording of the album?
Rob: I think the strongest memory for me will be seeing the songs come that much more alive in the studio. Another strong memory for me is when we recorded gang vocals at the very end of the process of tracking – it was not long after Carlos joined the band so having all of us record the gang vocals together felt like a really triumphant moment and that it felt like things were really coming together. There was a real sense of camaraderie around the mic that day! Another thing that we found somewhat amusing was buying Easter eggs and eating them in the studio feeling somewhat rebellious about eating them in the middle of February.
Joe Arnold: Listening back to “Fix Your Heart” after we’d finished recording and being able to take a step back and appreciate how it had grown from a rough demo to a fully fledged song. I knew instantly that it had to be the single.
Carlos Zelaya: I joined the band late into the process of making the album, but doing gang vocals for the day was a great experience!
William Page: Over the years, I have worked on numerous projects as a drummer, all but two of those projects, the drums were programmed in. This is huge deal for me; I physically recorded drums on this wonderful album with some of my most favourite people in the world. Yeah, that’s a pretty huge win for me. There were also little memories I loved like being a barista, using the studios fancy coffee machine, and our trips to Dominos for lunch and giving silly names.
What was the biggest challenge in its creation?
Rob: Creatively, the biggest challenge was getting a selection of songs at the standard we want them to be at, but as I’ve never done an album until now, I wanted to challenge myself and prove it was something I was capable of doing. I can be a bit of a perfectionist with my writing as I don’t want to release something that isn’t at least on the same level as what I’ve done previously.
Logistically, we had a couple of delays in the studio – one since our co producer Rob P had to miss the first couple of studio days due to a sudden bereavement which delayed us getting guitars set up ready to track, and then the other delay was the main reason that we ended up having to book an extra day in the studio. I don’t wish to partake in unnecessary drama or throw anyone under the bus so I won’t elaborate on what that big setback was in great detail, but it ultimately lead to us being in the position we’re currently in and the band is in the best shape it’s ever been as a result of that in the long run!
How would you characterize its style/sound?
Rob: Musically, it’s probably the closest we’ve got to the bands I was influenced by when we started this project. It’s very much a melodic hardcore album in the vein of The Wave bands such as Touché Amore, La Dispute, Defeater, and early Pianos Become the Teeth alongside the 2010’s UK melodic hardcore scene with bands like Departures and Vales. However, there’s also influences from Screamo/Skramz, early 2000’s post hardcore, Midwest emo, and even a little bit of black metal on one track!
What lyrical topics do you cover?
Rob: Mainly a lot of political and social topics – with the way the world is, it felt more prevalent to focus on my perspective on our current existence. There’s songs tackling topics such as Trans rights, people who claim to “not do politics,” the absurdity of nationalism, emotional abuse, and bigotry within the heavy music scene.
There’s also a few songs on the album that are a bit more personal. I had a relationship end about a year or so before I started writing lyrics which I took quite hard at the time, and as it was an experience that meant a lot to me I wanted to have some kind of art reflecting that experience. As writing lyrics is what comes the most naturally to me, that resulted in two sets of lyrics about the situation – one about looking back on the relationship and it’s untimely end, and one about my journey of healing after the break up. As well as this, one of my high school friends passed away a couple of years ago, so there’s a song on the album tackling my feelings surrounding that.
How did it come to be released on so many different record labels?
Rob: We’d worked with Engineer Records before as they co-released the made to order vinyl of Suburban Dystopia and the CD compilation of both EPs Some Demons Never Die. As we had a good rapport with David and he was enthusiastic about what we’re doing, it was a no brainer to work with them again for this release. We expressed interest in doing a vinyl release for the album, and David was up for that but was also transparent about the fact that we’d have to find a handful of partner labels from other territories to help cover the cost of doing a vinyl pressing. We eventually found enough labels who were interested, and we also had some interest from Cats Claw Records in the UK. They weren’t able to help out with the vinyl as there was already a UK label attached, but they were really keen to work with us on this album so suggested handling a cassette tape release of the album.
What are your goals and expectations for the album?
Rob: Main goal is to get it in front of the people who will vibe with the album and embrace it, and play the songs live wherever we possibly can.
How was the video shoot for “Fix Your Heart Or Die”?
Rob: Lots of fun! It was the first time any of us had done a proper music video shoot as performers but there was a lot of jumping around and playing the song over and over again for a few hours (poor Will pulled his back doing the shoot!). One funny memory of the shoot was my attempts at emulating Geoff Rickly from Thursday by swinging the mic during the instrumental stretch near the end of the song. Only one brief instance of me doing so ended up in the finished video because most the time I attempted this, the mic would detach from the cable and go flying across the room! Thankfully no one was hit, but it took me a few attempts to realize it wasn’t a good idea and to stop attempting it.
Joe: It was a lot of fun! Our long-time producer Mike directed the video, so it was basically a reunion for the album sessions. His big idea was to shoot the last chunk of the video at double speed and then play it back in slow motion, which is what gives it that kind of floaty look. What you can’t see is the huge blister I got from playing that section multiple times at that speed!
Carlos: It was tiring, but very fun! I misplaced my guitar strap on the morning of the shoot, so minutes before it started I had to rush to a nearby store to buy another one!
Will: Incredible again! As I have mentioned I have worked on projects before but aside from a silly video myself, Rob and Joe recorded many moons ago, this was my first real/serious video. I felt like I took a step to making my dreams come true. Getting to spend time with all my favourite people again, including our producer MyKey Kew, was part of what made the day so special. I also invited my niece and her boyfriend along and they were super supportive and had a wonderful time too. I also enjoyed working with our videographer Will Coddington, whom I’d previously worked with on one of his other projects featuring the legendary Mr Grimez Poet Warrior (@mrgrimezreal on insta).
What inspired the concept for the “Nothing Is The Same Anymore” video?
Rob: The video game series Silent Hill. I was playing Silent Hill 3 and I had a random thought of “it would be cool to have a music video inspired by Silent Hill” which came about since it’s a game series where the protagonists face manifestations of their personal demons. It’s something that I felt fit with the vibe of the song, and I wrote a storyline which kind of reflected my own journey of healing via abstract monsters representing different stages of grief.
What has been your most memorable Death Of Youth live show?
Rob: Our last London show of 2025 at Calamity Tank with Closed Hands and Kill The Snitch. Whilst we always have a blast at every show we play, the atmosphere from the crowd at that show felt particularly special and it felt like a triumphant way to wrap up the year with our final home town show of that year. The crowd was a mixture of friends of ours and people who were seeing us for the first time, including one person I spoke to who I’d never met previously but came down to the show mainly to see us. We ended up selling a decent amount of merch that night as well!
Joe: Back in July, Rob promoted a show for us at Paper Dress Vintage in Hackney. Aside from soundchecking in front of an audience of coat racks, it was memorable because everything seemed to be going wrong. Quiet Fear were coming over from California to headline, but understandably had to pull out at short notice because of ICE raids in their city. Luckily, main support Wreathe stepped up to headline and the show ended up going off without a hitch. It was probably our best performance up to that point, and it even gave us the opportunity to share a stage with Mountain Peaks for the first time, who’ve since become one of our favourites to work with.
Carlos: My most memorable Death Of Youth live show, and my favourite, was when we played at Calamity Tank in Leytonstone with Kill The Snitch and Closed Hands. The energy from ourselves and from the crowd was just off the charts.
Will: For me, the ones where I see people moving like crazy and two stepping the place down, those are so sick! You see a lot of people at shows (me included) who just stand around, tapping their foot and slightly bopping their heads. Now don’t get me wrong, I am sure, like myself, that those people are still enjoying their time and I am still grateful for those. So based off that, I’d say our shows at The Calamity Tank in Leytonstone and The Star in Shoreditch were some of the sickest crowds yet.
What are your upcoming show/tour plans?
Rob: We have our album release show at The Hope and Anchor in Islington on the 15th of February supported by our friends in Christina Carpenter and Je Souhaite. It’s the day before the album launches and we’re going to be playing it in full so it’ll be a cool way for people to experience the songs for the first time. As well as that, we have a South Coast UK Weekender supporting our friends incaseyouleave in early March – hitting up Brighton, Eastbourne, and Folkestone. We have another weekender planned for May venturing further up North for the first time that should hopefully be announced soon, and we recently got added onto a really cool hometown show in April which I imagine will have its announcement very soon!
What are some of your non-musical interests and hobbies?
Rob: Movies – I’m a big movie guy and I love going to the cinema, be it watching a classic at The Prince Charles in Soho or catching up with the newest releases at my local chain cinema, and adding to my substantial library of Blu-rays (I’ve recently started dipping my toes into 4K as well!). I’m also into video games (particularly retro games of the PS1/PS2 era), reading, bouldering, painting Warhammer models, and baking.
Joe: Playing video games (currently Hades 2 and Silent Hill F) and hanging out with my dog Luna. She often sits with me to provide moral support while I play.
Carlos: I love playing and watching football- I regularly watch the mighty Bromley at their home games!
Will: For health reasons, I am not working currently. I am also a caregiver for my father who has Parkinson’s, so I don’t get out much aside from band stuff but I sometimes play D&D with my other friend groups but mainly I play a ton of video games. I have recently finished Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 which is honestly one of the greatest games of all time. If anyone should take away anything from this interview, it’s to play Clair Obscur!
Anything else you’d like to mention or promote?
Rob: Follow us on Instagram (@deathofyouthukhc) to keep up to date on our upcoming shows!
(interview published February 21, 2026)
Watch Death Of Youth – “Fix Your Heart Or Die” Video
