Deaf Havana

Formed in Hunstanton, Norfolk, in 2005 by five students from King's Lynn College, Deaf Havana initially specialized in post-hardcore. Three years later, the band, featuring singer Ryan Mellor and brothers James Veck-Gilodi (vocals, guitar) and Matthew Veck-Gilodi (guitar), signed to the A Wolf at Your Door label and recorded their debut album Meet Me Halfway, at Least (2009). Mellor stepped down before recording his second album, Fools and Worthless Liars (2011), for the Chrysalis label (BMG). This marks a shift towards a more eclectic style of alternative rock, with folk and hard rock influences. Matthew Veck-Gilodi, brother of the guitarist and singer, becomes the lead guitarist of a quintet that stabilizes with the arrival of Max Britton (keyboards, acoustic guitar), alongside permanent members Lee Wilson (bass) and Tom Ogden (drums, percussion). The album Old Souls (2013) symbolizes the new musical direction of Deaf Havana, which continues its journey with the releases of All These Countless Nights (2017) and Rituals (2018). Successively, with the departures of Britton in 2018, then Ogden and Wilson in 2021, Deaf Havana becomes the Veck-Gilodi brothers' duo, tackling an ever more melodic style on The Present Is a Foreign Land (2022), which reached #23 in the UK charts, then We're Never Getting Out (2025), #71 on its release.