From growing up in a Southern scene triangle to watching heavy music take over live TV, Gideon reflect on longevity, learning to balance tour mode with real life, and why, as they approach two decades as a band, the handshake between 2008 and 2026 is all about staying present while taking it seriously.

Words by Bevan Hillier-McBean, photos by Aaron Heather (@aaronheather_photo) | Feb 02, 2026

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On the 31st of January, Gideon wrapped up their UK tour with Grove Street, Xile, and Still in Love,  and I was lucky enough to sit down with the band, and talk about the scene, approaching 20  years of Gideon, what makes a good show and what’s to come from them.  

An intimate tour Came to an end at the Dome, and just as intimate was sitting around a little green  room, with vocalist Daniel McWhorter, guitarist Tyler Riley, and bassist Caleb Derusha, and later  joined by drummer, and OG member Jake Smelley.  

2026 has been huge for heavy music, and deathcore especially, how has it been to experience? 

“Like heavy music is on top right now. Yeah. for probably the 1st time ever maybe? Our kind of  music. Yeah. I mean, knocked loose is on live TV in America. Jimmy Kimmel. Kublai Khan is doing  all this massive stuff. I feel like it’s more accepted now than it ever has been. When we were  growing up in it, it was super underground. And what we did, nobody understood. And now we  can go to eat have a coffee somewhere and the dude knows most of the bands. It’s crazy.” 

You’ve seen a lot of bands come up, do different things in the scene, different styles, but I mean, a lot of bands don’t make it 20 years. Don’t make it 10 years. What is it about Gideon that is different? 

“Um, our story is pretty unique in the fact that, um, all 3 of us were in different bands before  Gideon. Our drummer, Jake, was like a member from Gideons back in the day, but my band and 

his band and Gideon toured together and became like really, really close friends throughout the  years. And then I think really what just happened is the most, the people who really wanted to do  it at the end of the day, all stuck around and we all made one band out of the members who really  wanted to tour and make a band work.” 

“So you had the like local scene…?”  

“Yeah, well, we weren’t even local because he was from Tennessee. My band was from  Mississippi. Gideon’s from Alabama. Yeah, he’s from Georgia.” 

“Yeah, you gotta understand that. England, like everything’s 5 minutes away from each other. Someone from Manchester might be in a band with someone from London…”  

“Yeah, there’s a lot of land between these places, but we were basically in this triangle of kind, we  were all about 3 to 4 hours away from each other. But all of us kind of started at the same time,  we just ended up playing in places that were between where we all lived. Any weekends, we had  off, like, as we’re finishing high school, you know, like, any weekend or any spring break, then as  soon as we all graduated, it was like, all right, now we’re gonna be out as much as we can, trying  to get further and further away, you know?” 

“So you grew together, you travelled together…?  

“We were, 17, 18 years old. Sam was like 19. I mean, we grew up together on the road for a  decade.” 

After so long on the road, you’ve gotta know what it is that makes a good show, is there anything you hope for?  

“Good energy, man. It’s like, uh, people were excited about music… the first show of the UK run  in Bristol is a great example. We rocked up on stage, not knowing what to expect, and everyone  was just ready to go, you know? And it’s not always like that. There’s this mutual agreement of  like, we’re here to have fun today. We’re all excited, you know?” 

“Anything you miss from the scene? Say from years ago?”  

“…it is harder to get, like, it’s more rare to have a show where it feels like everyone is really  engaged. I think you might see a couple of cell phones that, like, you’ll never see the video ever,  you know, but clearly social media and the internet has changed the way the shows go.” 

“So you’re looking for people having a good time, having a party basically…?”

Yeah, moshing, stage dives, you’d see some really crazy stuff.” 

You’re coming up to 20 years now. Is there anything to expect from 20 years of Gideon?

“We have some songs that we haven’t released yet. We have like a few of them. We’re trying to  make an effort next year to write more as we’re putting these songs out, so it’s not just a big  break with no music, but we’re trying to write like a full album during this year and we’re leaving a  little bit of extra space in time because we have a tendency to just book ourselves up and tour all  the time. And we’re still touring quite a bit next year, but we have some pretty good longer breaks  where we can write more music. But like I said, yeah, we’re gonna have still a few songs to  release in the meantime and keep things rolling.” 

“Is writing a different headspace to touring?” 

“Being on the road is all encompassing your daily needs, like noise, noise, actions, action. You get  home and then you get, like, the complete opposite. Your needs supersede everything almost,  and it’s kind of hard to achieve anything but the task at hand when you’re on the road. 

“So there’s tour mode and writing mode?”  

“At least for us, some bands are like insane at like writing on the road, but it’s it’s really difficult to  do anything but be focussed on the show and be ready to like perform. Even making sure you get  food that day or like, you know, yeah, trying to relax where you can because it’s just exhausting  as well. 

And to finish up, with 18 years under the belt, if 2008 Gideon and 2026 Gideon were to have a conversation, what would that look like?  

“Jake, you’re the only one that can answer. 

 I think I think 2026, Gideon would kind of be like, “Hey, you need to take this more serious. The  faster you learn how to go through life and thinking about this as a way to make, not only music,  but a way to make a living and support yourself, the better off you’ll be as a man. But I think 2008,  Gideon would look right back at that guy and be like, well, you don’t need to forget what it’s like  to be a kid. Y’know, and have fun with it. I think there’s a good handshake there. A balance, but  it’s such a hard road.”  

“I think a lot of bands might struggle to find that balance…”  

“Yeah. And it’s hard to kind of keep that inner child sometimes, you know? And we would  definitely be telling early our early selves to that, like, you’re in the good times right now. you 

know? Because we still talk about those times. We were talking about it yesterday. We talk about  it all the time. It’s like, remember when this happened?” 

“So whether it’s 2008 or 2026…”  

“To be in the moment. And I think we did pretty good at the end of the morning. We got up to  some real shenanigans back in the day, you know, we lived at, you know, list. Yeah. I mean, even  now we’re still getting into the shenanigans that we’re in our 30s.” 

Gideon absolutely tore down the Dome, and are touring the United States and Australia later this  year, and look forward to their upcoming releases through Sumerian Records.