The barn in Hereford has become a constant — weekends disappearing into writing, rehearsing, and long stretches of just existing in the same room. Vegan hot dogs, hash browns, films referenced mid-conversation, half-finished ideas suddenly locking into place. That’s where Guillotine found the version of themselves that had been sitting unfinished for years.
“We didn’t really ‘decide’ to come back,” the band explain. “For a long time, Guillotine just kind of disappeared/existed in the background… it may not have been active, but it wasn’t finished either. Songs half-written, ideas sitting in notes apps, voice memos you don’t go back to. Life filled in the gaps where the band used to be.”
What shifted wasn’t a single turning point. More a slow recognition that the earlier version of the band hadn’t said everything it needed to — or didn’t yet know how. Around the same time, the lineup reset. Ash Green, previously behind the kit in Holding Absence, joined alongside Sam Woolley of Wallflower, with Nix Boulton and the rest of the group pulling from years of shared history across different projects. Daniel Fisher and Callum Heffy round out a five-piece that now feels settled in a way Guillotine hadn’t before.
“This lineup just clicks. It’s a genuine group of mates who’ve known each other for years… bringing it back together feels like a home from home. There’s a safety in that history.”
That sense of familiarity cuts against how the band operate now. Everyone brings in different creative lives from outside the band — film, visual art, other music — and nothing is filtered down to fit a pre-existing shape. “Everyone is heard. Everyone is seen,” they say. “There’s no real barrier in the room… we’ve all been through our own stuff over the years, and it just means we show up open. Honest. As friends as much as musicians.”
“Haunted,” out April 3, is the first clear result of that shift. It follows earlier singles “Does It Make You Feel” and “Half As Bright,” tracks that built quiet momentum around the band again, earning the kind of word-of-mouth usually reserved for acts operating just outside wider attention — the “your favourite band’s favourite band” zone Guillotine have occupied before.
The new track leans heavier and tighter than anything they’ve released, but it doesn’t try to resolve itself neatly. “It’s not really about one thing,” they say. “It’s more about the weight of things that don’t resolve properly… conversations that never land, versions of yourself you don’t recognise anymore, trying to make peace with that without forcing it into something neat.”
There’s less interest now in polishing things into a finished answer. “Before, there was more of a sense that things needed to land a certain way or sound right, look right, fit into something. This time it’s been more about not overcorrecting. Letting things be a bit uncomfortable if that’s what they are.”
That approach is tied directly to how Guillotine are operating in 2026. There’s no label structure around them — everything is handled independently, decisions landing squarely on the band. “There’s no real buffer which means we’re putting everything into it ourselves,” they say. “Working with Atonal on the live side has helped give things shape, but everything else is very much ours to figure out.”
The timing around “Haunted” is no accident. April brings confirmed support dates with Black Foxxes, followed by a July run touring with Chicago’s Footballhead. Between those, Guillotine will play the Friday of 2000trees Festival on the event’s second-largest stage — a significant step for a band that spent years half-visible.
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Behind it all sits a new full-length record, due this July. Titled “A Lesser Key,” it pulls together everything the band describe as lived, lost, and relearned — songs that stretch out emotionally while keeping a tighter grip on structure. The influence points remain clear without being overbearing: the reach of Manchester Orchestra, the urgency of mewithoutYou, touches of The Weakerthans and R.E.M. surfacing in how the songs move and resolve.
Earlier in their run, Guillotine broke through a DIY push that carried them onto BBC Radio 1 and Kerrang!, releasing their debut “Sapphire” via Failure By Design Records before following it with the self-recorded “Weakness” through Venn Records. They shared stages with Basement, The Maine, Tigers Jaw, and Brutus, then went quiet for six years.
Now, they’re moving again, but without trying to recreate that earlier momentum.
“The shows coming up, the record… it all feels more intentional, but also less certain in a strange way. Like we’re not trying to prove anything this time, just not leave things unsaid again.”
“Playing music is a choice, but it doesn’t really feel like one to any of us. It’s just something we have to do.”
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