“I would definitely call us family: brothers.” After an earth-shaking performance on the main stage at Bloodstock 2025, we got to talking with vocalist Tom Vane and bassist Chris Travers about the show, the band, and, of all things, alternate dimensions.

Hot on the heels of one of their biggest gigs to date, the duo were keen to discuss how being on the Ronnie James Dio stage at Bloodstock felt. As Vane put it, “it’s difficult to describe, really. Imagine having thousands and thousands of people looking at you, and then having to bear your soul and play something you really care about in front of them all, and hope that they like it!” For Famyne, it seems that the group’s live show goes deeper than their doom metal riffs— as Travers explained, “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with wanting to connect with people. That’s kind of the whole point: to find someone else who feels the same. I think it needs to awaken something in them— almost catch them off guard.” Vane agreed, adding that “I want them to have the same reaction to the music that I had when we first thought of the song.” This approach clearly informs the group’s performances, with Vane declaring that “I let the music take hold of me, as it were. You know how you get Christian baptists who speak in tongues? Whatever it is that makes them do what they do, that’s what takes hold of me when I’m on stage. It’s not music: it’s something else.”

After playing such a high-profile show, the band were able to reflect on their decade-long journey together to offer some advice to newer acts. Travers’ message was clear— “rule number one: mean it. Do it for a calling— a labour of love. The only good thing that’s come out of the state of music is that it separates the men from the boys and the professionals from the posers. You’ve got to want to do it, and if you want to do it for the wrong reasons, you’d better put your efforts into a proper career.” Vane, meanwhile, was able to share how the interpersonal dynamic within Famyne has benefitted them over the years. “It pays to be open, all the time, about everything. When we started we were very open— we would say ‘the thing,’ we would argue like motherf*ckers— and new entries to the band were taken aback by how honest we were with each other.” Travers shared how this approach continues to inform the band’s decisions to this day, even all the way up to picking their Bloodstock setlist. “We’re quite a diplomatic band. Everyone has to feel comfortable with it before we make a decision— there’s no straight decision making, because it just wouldn’t be fair.”

Given the massive variety of bands in the scene right now, we were keen to explore what hooks doom metal has in Famyne. As Vane put it, “it’s always been the slow parts that’ve felt the heaviest to me— I feel like you can fit more in them. If you can pare stuff back, you can fit more into it, or you can choose for something to be really bereft and open and rely on the tone. There’s so much you can fit within doom, and it just feels right to me: that’s where I automatically rest in terms of ‘music home.’” The duo were even interested to question whether or not they’d play doom metal in a world where the genre was mainstream. Though the answer came easily to Travers— who declared “I love doom so much: I hope doom takes over the world!”— Vane was more mixed on the issue. As he explained, “I feel like a lot of the alternative scene exists in opposition to the mainstream. Unless you’ve got a whole other Earth, you couldn’t really tell how [doom being mainstream] would affect individual lives and societies. For [doom] to be popular, you’d have to be able to hone in on what sort of person listens to it— maybe the Earth would be a sadder place.”

In a similarly thoughtful moment, the duo dove into their views on the current metal scene, and how the members of Famyne have been faring with an increased number of eyes on them— in regards to the group’s reception online, Vane expressed that “being somewhat of an alternative person, I always thought that if you belonged in a group that was contrary to the norm, then anything would be accepted. But when you get to that group, you realise they have their own norms, and to contravene those is actually a sin. That’s why I try to be an individual— it’s so weird that people let themselves be bound by these things.” Chris agreed wholeheartedly, sharing how the band attempt to navigate the treacherous landscape of modern discourse. “80% of metalheads couldn’t give a sh*t what you wear, but there is that 20%— the metal elitists— who I don’t really care for. The whole point is to go against the norm, and all of a sudden you’re conforming to your own script? It just seems to be so contrary to what the whole purpose is.”

Touching back down to the world of music, Travers was able to confirm what fans have been hoping for: “album three is next. We all must be happy with it, otherwise it’s not going to happen— I think that’s why it’s taken a little bit longer than we hoped. [We’re] just working it out to make sure everyone’s happy, and it’s as pure as it can be, and as honest as it can be.” Speaking on the topic, Vane shared what drives him (and the rest of the group) to work on new music. “The moment art gets comfortable on stage is when you start to lose the passion, and the audience will feel that eventually. So you need to keep writing new stuff, evolving and changing, and feeling that feeling you got from the first music you wrote. It’s still going to be Famyne— we’re not going to put off everyone who liked us, because we love them— but we’re still writing it for ourselves.” 

In similarly compelling news, the duo were keen to share the details of a number of upcoming gigs, including one that has the band, as Travers put it, “excited, like we’re 16 year old girls at a Beatles concert.” Vane explained, “On October 23rd, we’re playing with The Obsessed: that’s a massive deal for us. To get to play on the same stage as [them], on the same night, and get to say to the audience, ‘is anyone else looking forward to The Obsessed,’ is such a privilege.”

To round out this particularly eclectic interview, we were keen to know which albums mean the most to the members of Famyne— despite the group’s doom metal origins, it was actually the grunge scene of the 90s that drew the duo’s eye. For Vane, the choice was immediate: “‘Dirt’ by Alice In Chains. There’s no other album that feels like that does to me— it goes exactly where my soul wants it to. I can’t describe it, because it comes from somewhere else.” The decision was, conversely, a more laboured one for Travers. “It always goes between Alice In Chains and Soundgarden. I’m torn between ‘Badmotorfinger’ and ‘Superunknown:’ you can put a gun to my head and I’ll tell you. My two favourite songs from Soundgarden are ‘Mailman’ and ‘4th Of July’— I pick ‘Superunknown!’”