No Peace for 'bloodgrass supergroup' Heathen Apostles as they return to play The Wedgewood Rooms

But since then they have been regular visitors to these shores, and on Thursday, July 9 they return to our own Wedgewood Rooms.

The Californian act, who formed in 2013, trade in ‘bloodgrass’ – their own brand of gothic roots music with hints of blues, Gypsy jazz and bluegrass – and so far have seven albums and numerous EPs under their finely decorated belts.

“Honestly, it's kind of like meeting long-lost family,” says frontwoman Mather Louth of playing in Britain. “We have that in our blood anyways, but it's been incredibly welcoming. It's like we feel we're at home.”

The band have just released a new split EP – No Peace, with ‘gothic and doom dub’ act The Vladiators. However, the latter band is in reality Louth and Apostles co-founder and guitarist Chopper Franklin plus Gav King of UK cult goth heroes Fields of the Nephilim.

The sound is an extension of that already explored by Franklin on the Spaghetti Western Dub No. 1 album, released under his own name in 2024.

Franklin explains: “I've always been into reggae and dub, even back in my teen years. My two favourite bands were The Stones and The Clash, and obviously there’s a lot of reggae there, and I just loved dub, loved Black Uhuru, Lee Scratch Perry, and I’ve always been listening to that, and then I was also into the post-punk dub.

“It was a big influence.”

The Apostles opened for Fields of the Nephilim on the latter band’s 40th anniversary tour last year, which was where the idea to collaborate was born.

“We got to know Gav well, and he had heard the Spaghetti Western Dub album, and it's been a lot of fun.

"Really leaning into that has been great, and we're also going to start bringing in some other kind of post-punk, gothic figures into future releases.”

The project has been a true transatlantic collaboration, with each wing recording in their respective home studios

“For the EP we wrote those songs, recorded them here, sent the stems over to Gav for one of them, and he's got a home studio, too. He mixed it up, sent it back, and let’s get it out there. That's a good workflow – no waiting around for labels and a lot of people to put their fingerprint on it – just do it!”

As with all Apostles material, it is released through Franklin’s Ratchet Blade Records.

The title track, No Peace, is a heavier – in every sense – reworking of their own song, originally released in 2021 in response to George Floyd’s death and the subsequent protests.

“Sadly things have not changed,” says Mather of why they went back to the track, “and that's what I'm singing in the song, is that we never change.

"Unfortunately, when you don't learn from history, you repeat it.”

The song’s powerful video features footage from decades of protests – Wounded Knee in ’73, the Chicano school walkouts in LA in ’68, school integration in the south, Stonewall, the Rodney King protests at LAPD’s Parker Center, and more recently, the Standing Rock Resistance.

“We're really excited to put this video out because it's a compilation of a lot of protest footage from decades past and also very current,” says Mather. “We're not one of those bands that sits by the sidelines and is afraid to say something.

"It's probably going to ruffle some feathers, but the thing is we don't want to look back and be a part of the silence, you know?

"And I think the gift about music is, songs evolve as far as meanings go, but I think this one, it encompasses the spirit of protest. Whether it's about George Floyd or whether it's about, just the myriad of things that are going on right now in our country and abroad, these things are happening all over the world.

“We've never been the type to sit by and be silent about it, and this is our medium.”

From the look of the band, and when listening to them there’s a timeless quality to what they do. But the band say the political side has always been there too.

Louth says: “It's always been a part of us.”

“I come from the LA punk-rock scene in the early ’80s,” adds Franklin, “so it's always been a huge part of it. And there's no reason why, just because we do roots based music, that it can't be again.

“I mean, it goes back to (legendary early 20th century protest singer) Woody Guthrie. and so in that spirit, we definitely will be doing more of that in the future.

"The other two songs we did on the EP, we did dub remixes to completely reinvent them, but this one, we wanted to have the aggression that it called for.

“It's nothing new. I have 'revolt' tattooed across the back of my shoulders. It's always been there.”

Louth adds: “When I wrote No Peace I think it does still have a timeless quality to it because it's just the simple idea of ‘what makes one man kill another?’ That sadly never changes and it can be applied to a lot of things.

"And that's why we're bringing it back in our setlist this time around. We've been bringing in more kind of things that play to what's going on right now.

"Music, it's a universal messenger, that's how we use it.”

Since last playing here, the band have parted company with bassist Thomas Lorioux.

George Pearson of raucous English west country Americana act The Swamp Stomp String Band is joining them on this tour. And from there?

"It's not the easiest gig. There’s a lot of influences and vibes and all that going on. George was recommended to us by our tour manager, which was a good recommendation, so we'll see how it goes.”

Heathen Apostles, supported by The Devil’s Damned Stringband play The Wedgewood Rooms, Southsea on Thursday, July 9. Doors 7.30pm. Tickets £17.

Go to wedgewood-rooms.co.uk.