New year. New noise. Hype is back on the hunt, digging through the chaos, the chatter and the late-night tip-offs to find the acts who aren’t just next up, but about to detonate.

Dork’s Hype List is our annual spotlight on the artists who’ve started to really stand out - not because they’re destined for instant superstardom, but because there’s something in what they’re doing that feels fresh, deliberate and worth keeping close tabs on.

It isn’t about calling winners or demanding overnight breakthroughs. Consider it a guide to the acts shaping the edges of what’s next: the ones we’re excited about, curious about, and confident enough to back as they take their next steps.

"I don’t think there’s a band louder than us,” exclaims Villanelle guitarist Ben Taylor - a sign of the confidence flowing through the band. “That’s the only thing I put on my résumé,” adds frontman and songwriter Gene Gallagher. “The band has to be loud as fuck.”

Villanelle clearly have iconic rock heritage burned into them courtesy of their frontman’s legendary dad, Liam, who has had a rather big year himself with his own rock’n’roll band. But all that history and lineage would mean nothing if Villanelle couldn’t operate on their own terms, with their own distinct take on rock music and what it feels like to be a young person in a band in 2025. All the composite parts of a striking new band are here. They look intensely cool. They have great songs. And when the three of them are together, they have a magnetic charisma. As they look ahead to releasing more music in 2026, they’re beginning to set the wheels in motion to take over the UK rock landscape.

“It’s been an amazing year,” says Gene, reflecting on 2025 for Villanelle — the year they released their debut single ‘Hinge’ and really started to take things to another level after years of grafting. “A cogs-turning moment for us. We’ve been recording loads and doing all these slow-burning things that have been really exciting. We’ve been at it for three years now. Gigging has been great, but getting to do the music — which we’ve been focusing on this year — has been good.”

“It’s been a foundation year for us, getting into the studio and finding where our sound is, which is fun,” adds Ben.

There’s a sense of a movement building around Villanelle: a word-of-mouth story, as unreleased songs played live get whispered about from town to town and small venue to small venue. Some are intrigued by the family connection — but increasingly people are recognising that there’s something exciting brewing.

Villanelle feel like a band in the classic mode. There’s a spark between the three members that belies the simplicity of their origin story — well, if you can even call it an origin story. “Me and Jack met in a pub on a random Tuesday night. Nothing too special,” explains Gene in his typically laid-back manner. “We started chatting, and it became a thing of: do you want to rehearse and play sometime? Me and Ben met through close friends and word of mouth. ‘Do you know a guitar player?’ ‘Yeah, I know someone’. I invited them both to a room and that was that.”

The three became fast friends and bonded over shared musical tastes, primarily 90s American rock. For three years, they’ve relentlessly traversed the UK’s small venues, with the odd feature spot like a tour support slot with Liam Gallagher on his Definitely Maybe arena shows in 2024 — burnishing their reputation as an exhilarating live band. There’s no grand vision or concept to Villanelle. Their music is driven by purity and youthful passion — a passion reflected back at them by an already devoted fanbase. “I don’t think we go into it necessarily trying to craft what we are,” ponders Ben. “We create what we want to create. It takes on a life of its own. That’s nothing to do with us — it’s to do with the people who enjoy our music and want to be involved.”

“It’s amazing — seeing these interactions from people drives you to want to do more,” says Gene, thinking about early fan support. “‘We’re going to get that song out, don’t worry!’” he laughs, responding to the fan cries to release every song in their live set. All in good time. “We only just dropped the first single, but fans were making bootlegs of our performances as early as June last year,” says bassist Jack. “They’ve already been behind the tunes. We’ve been dropping these songs, but the fans are like: what about that one that we absolutely love? We’re happy they stick by us — we’ll drop it at the right time.”

Villanelle’s sound may be rooted in American rock, but it’s delivered with a distinctly British attitude. “I’ve always loved bands like Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Nirvana, but I’ve never wanted to sing like them,” says Gene. “It’s nice to put an English twist on things because that’s being authentic.”

“There’s definitely a Britishness that runs through our sound, but it’s fuelled by a 90s American influence that hasn’t been around for a while,” continues Ben. For Gene, it’s simple: “I’ve always been obsessed with that kind of music. It’s never been about making music for people — it’s about what I like doing for myself. If anyone likes it, then that’s great. That’s just the music I like, and I always want to make something I like.”

The band’s latest single ‘Measly Means’ — a gloriously playful, laconic ode to the joys of staying in bed and doing nothing at all — marks a melodic step on from the punchy, fuzzed-out debut ‘Hinge’. It’s enormous fun, but the band promise they’ll also show a deeper, dreamier and more expansive side on their forthcoming 2026 EP. “We’ve got that trick up our sleeve,” smiles Gene.

One thing Villanelle don’t want to do is emulate Oasis, or Gene’s dad. Spending time with him, it’s clear Gene possesses the innate confidence and presence of Liam — but Villanelle exist on their own terms. “We don’t want to steer away, but we want to be our own individual product,” he says passionately. Naturally, he wants his father to like what they’re doing. “I value his opinion because he’s my dad,” he says.

“We’re not trying to do anything different than any other band,” says Ben, rejecting any idea of added pressure. “There are facts that are different, but we’re just trying to be a band like every other band.”

There’s a feeling that the band have grown into themselves this year and are really starting to blossom. They end 2025 in that magical moment every new band hits where everything begins to click. “We’ve all moulded differently to how we were when we started. We’ve had to leave some part of us behind to evolve into something else,” says Gene. “I look at little things — like even how I used to dress a year ago — and it’s something as simple as that,” adds Jack. “It’s evolving as a collective. Our personal styles and how we carry ourselves,” offers Ben. For Gene, it comes down to understanding that Villanelle can only exist with all three members offering their own viewpoint, style and talent. “What you are as a whole makes you special from everyone else.”

It might have been tempting to artificially skyrocket things, but their commitment to hard work and organic growth is paying off — even when it goes against instinct. “It’s learning to be patient and not wanting every song out now. It’s doing it song by song and building. I’m very all-guns-blazing, but you need to walk before you can run.” Jack adds, “I think we’re in a nice little pocket of grassroots scene at the moment. We’ve just come off a university tour playing to young people. We’re really into that world at the moment and slowly working our way up. I think we’re sitting quite nicely.” ■

Taken from the December 2025 / January 2026 issue of Dork, out now.