Interview: Getting to Know Versus
Blending elements of the post-hardcore, post-grunge and alternative rock, Versus recently released their debut album, ‘The Catalyst’. In this interview, we get to know them better.
1. Hello! Thank you for taking the time to chat to us. First things first, tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got started.
Hello there. We are Versus, from Leeds, UK. Versus has been around nearing a decade now, in various incarnations. Shortie (vocals) started the band back in 2016 and over the years various band members came and went (then came back… Rob!) and the sound changed as the band dynamics changed. But the common thread that tied us all together was always love of music – and not necessarily the same style!
2. Someone comes to you and asks you to sum up what kind of music you play – what do you tell them?
Who even knows genres anymore?! I’d say musically we’re influenced by the post-hardcore genre with your like of Bring Me The Horizon, Dayseeker, Bad Omens etc. Vocally influences are leaning more towards the grunge era, with a bit of Serj Tankian thrown in for good measure. Put it all together and I guess were somewhere in the middle of post-hardcore, post-grunge and alternative.
3. What’s currently keeping you busy? A new album/EP/single release? A new video? Playing live, or planning ahead?
Literally all these things! I can’t say too much right now, but we have big plans for this year. New stuff is coming – and plenty of it! In terms of playing live, we’re keeping ourselves busy promoting our first full length album The Catalyst which came out in Dec 2025. We’ve put a lot of time and effort into making sure we’re as tight as possible live and put on a show, and we’re really proud of where our live shows are at currently. When (not if) you come to a show you should expect confetti, pyros and epilepsy-inducing lights!
4. What is about this current period that is particularly exciting for you?
I think it’s balancing the workload we have that we’re finding exciting and stressful in equal measures. Being in a band which can make music to be proud of and pushing your self-made shows to be something people don’t see at a grass-roots venue involves an insane amount of work, and balancing your free time outside of day jobs can be challenging. But the rewards are so worth it.
5. Tell me about the work that has gone into making it a reality and what it means to you.
Where to start? The music has to be the starting point for any band, and it needs to be something you feel proud of and be something you know you’ve given your all to. Once you have the music everything that surrounds it takes over your life, especially when everything is in-house like it was for us when we released The Catalyst – recording, production, mastering, website, newsletters, social media, light shows, backing tracks, live mixes, in ear monitors, finding gigs, responding to promotors… the list is honestly endless. But we wouldn’t do it if we didn’t love it and think it was worth it. We’re really proud of The Catalyst and 2026 will see us surpass what we did by a country mile. Watch this space.
6. Making music and being creative can be a very positive experience and can be very good for the mind. In what way has making music had a positive impact on your mental health?
Writing music can be very cathartic, and music consumers just want to feel. So, music is a great bridge between being able to process emotion and feelings into something that can resonate with someone feeling similar things. The subject of the song can be left quite open to interpretation which we try to do – and whatever someone r gets from it is really a blank that only a listener can fill in for themselves.
7. It can also be incredibly challenging, more so in the modern times. What have been some challenging aspects of making music and how have you overcome them?
As our live shows have started having more tech involved with everything weaved into each other it’s very easy for things to go wrong – we all have the love/hate relationship with tech, right?! There’s been a couple of challenging times around tech at our shows but being well rehearsed and knowing our shows inside out helped us carry on without it being obvious to the crowd.
8. How do you handle the online aspects of being in a band? Having to put out content constantly, promoting across several different social media platforms, and having your success measured in likes and follows?
We try to keep our socials fairly humble and a hub for accessing us as a band and find what you want to find, rather than use it to force feed. That’s probably to our detriment in some ways. I heard someone refer to this as social me-me-media, and I think that’s perfect. We also find that whilst social media is great for reach and getting you in front of new people, there isn’t a great correlation between likes/follows and gig-goers until you get to a larger sized band – almost household name level. We think it’s important to swim in both ponds, and there is crossover, but they’re definitely two separate ponds.
9. How do you make this part of things enjoyable, and fulfilling, for yourself?
I mean, it helps when you love what you do, right? I think any band would agree that the effort that is required to put into making a band is a labour of love, and if you don’t love it you just wouldn’t keep up to the workload. It’s as simple as that really. The end product is always the most fulfilling part of a project – hearing back a finished single or album after working on it for months feels good, but that goes hand in hand with the significant effort you put into it.
10. Speaking directly to listeners – what would you ask they do to help support you?
Anything they can. We would love you to come to a show and get the full experience. Like I mentioned before, we’ve put significant work into the production of a show and we want people to experience our music how we intended for it to be experienced, but that can only be done at a live show. If a live show isn’t possible for whatever reason then stream us, follow us, like us, whatever you can… or feel like we deserve!
11. Outside of music, what do you like to do to relax?
There’s an outside of music???
12. Where can people find you?
We’re on all socials if that’s your thing, but our website is the hub linked to everything – socials, youtube, streaming platforms… everything. There’s even a newsletter you can sign up to which keeps you first in the know the pretty much everything Versus related!
