Introducing: Found Missing?

Essex-based Found Missing? offer up an engaging grungey rock sound led by distinguishably raspy vocals that they describe as “melodic, punchy and varied.”

The band formed about five years ago but, due to the challenges of the pandemic, they feel it’s been going for less time. Found Missing? started with vocalist Justin Brett and drummer Graham Lyons, who knew each other from previous bands. They brought in bass player Simon (gid) Gardner, who’d also played in bands with Justin, and guitarist Dean Pullen, and the quartet quickly clicked perfectly.

And on the sound they’ve honed since, Justin tells us: “We don’t really try to put ourselves in a category. But I would say we are a rock band but a bit different with catchy and gritty vocals.”

Our first taste of this is the band’s debut album Blind Leading The Blind, which was released in April and is absolutely packed with catchy rock goodness. It begins in style with the excellent Change Me, which opens with chunky guitar chords giving way to engaging vocals that flow into a catchy chorus.

Second track Love Me Hate Me opens up with a cool call-and-response intro between guitar and bass, before a big riff feeds into a lively verse and chorus. Third track Nobody features feisty choruses in between mellow verses and you can check it out in the video here:

Perhaps a personal favorite track on the album is Bliss, which has just been released as a single. It opens up with a light guitar lick that builds into a fun stabbing riff. Light guitars return for the laid-back opening verse and the cool riff jumps back in for a fractured chorus “I don’t want to know, Don’t tell me, maybe the answer’s no, I don’t want to know, This thing won’t break me, I’ll only grow, Now there’s only me to find my way.” A second chorus drops into laid-back guitars, which again jump back into the chunky riff and a final blast of the chorus. Check it out here:

There’s plenty more where that came from with tracks like You Shouldn’t Have Told Me, I’m The One, Made For Each Other and Now I’m Awake packing a serious punch. We also recommend checking out It’s You, which opens up with a lively guitar riff that drops into engaging vocals that flow into a seriously catchy chorus and, later, a funky little guitar solo. Check it out in the lyric video here:

On the album, Justin told us: “We have had a great reception from it and some great reviews. If you haven’t heard it, expect a mixture of styles all with a hard rock groove and catchy vocals. We truly think there’s something for everyone on the album, so check it out and see if you agree.”

And on the creation of the album, he added: “The process of writing an album is both very enjoyable and very hard. We wrote lots of songs and if we weren’t happy with the end result and didn’t get that feeling from it we ditched it. We didn’t try to salvage any songs and we tried our very best to not have an album with any fillers on it, which we feel we have achieved.

“In our case, we had Covid to deal with and had a big break that interfered with the writing. It was hard to keep enthusiastic about what we were doing but we got there. To have an album out worldwide (with WormHoleDeath Records), being on radio all over the world and hearing people are enjoying it is amazing for all of us and feels like one hell of an achievement.”

The Found Missing? sound draws on a wide range of influences, including the likes of Metallica, Skindred, TOOL, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam, Sevendust, Incubus and Periphery.

And on what inspires them to write music, Justin explains: “All Found Missing? lyrics are personal, they’re like a photograph of whatever is going on at the time. So a lot is about failed relationships and pain, which is a way of release. But the lyrics always come last; the riffs come first and then the lyrics fit around that.”

Found Missing?’s album is set to be released physically in Japan, which the band are very much looking forward to. You can see the band live at The Hertford House Hotel in Hertford on Sunday (27 August, and tickets here). They’re currently in talks to play more shows and tours, as well as just starting work on new tracks for their second album.

You can follow Found Missing? on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and check out their music on Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, Soundcloud and YouTube. And discover more new bands through their label WormHoleDeath Records.