Forget tidy genre labels. Merseyside duo Dead Raze are happier living somewhere between the raw stomp of Delta blues and the urgency of garage punk. The band – with Matt from Mayo in Ireland (V&G) and Ollie from Liverpool (BV& Drums), have spent the last four years forging a sound that's equal parts sweat-soaked rock 'n' roll and haunted Americana, and now they're gearing up to unleash their self-funded second album.

It all began after the pair's previous band, Sheepy, came to an end. Matt had briefly gone solo under the name Villy Raze but quickly realised the limitations of performing alone.

"Had the foot drum thing going on"

He laughs. "It just sounded a bit silly. I needed someone to bring the groove." That someone was Ollie, the reunion felt natural, and Dead Raze was born—a name combining Matt's former band, The Dead Class, with his solo moniker.

Trying to define the band's music proves almost as difficult as pinning down its influences. Garage rock, garage punk and punk blues all get mentioned, but none quite tell the whole story. Matt's songwriting owes as much to Delta blues and more modern players like Junior Kimbrough and R.L. Burnside as it does to old-school punk like The Stooges and The Hives. A distorted slide guitar sitting comfortably alongside Ollie’s pounding rhythms. You really must see these guys, the atmosphere surrounding Dead Raze is equally distinctive. Their music feels steeped in dusty highways, abandoned bars and supernatural folklore—something I likened to the dark, Southern Gothic world of True Blood.

Ollie doesn't disagree- his lifelong fascination with vampire mythology and the darker side of American folklore naturally bleeds into the band's music and the same can be said of their songwriting process. Matt arrives with most of the lyrics and core riffs already in place before Ollie helps shape arrangements and refine the material. While both describe the partnership as democratic, Matt admits he's fiercely protective of his words, particularly when tackling political or social themes. However, that collaborative approach has now produced Dead Razes' second album, recently completed at Liverpool's MUMA Studios. Entirely self-funded, the record promises to broaden the band's sound without abandoning the grit that defines it. Alongside the heavy blues-rock foundations are what Matt describes as some of the band's fiercest political writing to date. "It's still us," is the underlying message—just with a wider emotional palette.

The visual side of Dead Raze has evolved too. Ollie recently took charge of the artwork for the latest single Feeling, producing an illustration built around distorted, melting faces that reflect feelings of dread, anxiety and self-pity. It's unsettling without being grotesque, check it out, I have my order in!

As ever though, life as an independent band is far from glamorous. Dead Raze have already toured Europe and Ireland supporting some impressive names and are now planning an album launch that will take them back across the UK, Ireland and Germany in early 2027. Ambitious? – nope! Matt still has his sights set firmly on the future. His plan is simple: build a catalogue of music strong enough to release and tour consistently whilst Ollie would also like to swap full-time employment and consistently fill 500-capacity venues. However, both acknowledge that success rarely arrives overnight when you're funding everything yourselves, and it's that combination of ambition and realism that gives Dead Raze their appeal.

There's no manufactured mythology here. No overnight success story. Just two musicians steadily building something on their own terms—drawing from the ghosts of Delta blues, the energy of punk and an uncompromising DIY spirit. Look out for their second album soon but make sure you see them live and visit their Bandcamp store for some fantastic looking merch.