Preston band VICES putting on DIY headline gig at The Ferret

Preston band VICES are set to play a DIY headline gig at The Ferret.

The dynamic alt rock/metal band is made up of Josh Monaghan (vocals), Ian Grundy (guitars) and Si Smith (drums). They describe their music as a “striking blend of hard rock elements, metal grooves, and electronic noise that creates a melodic yet turbulent and heavy sound.”

While Josh and Si have lived in Preston all their lives, Ian moved here from Newcastle for university. Passionate music fans, all three are proud to call Preston their home, and say they want to help put the city back on the map.

The Ferret gig will take place on Saturday 30 August, with support coming from Weightbearer and Nerve Agents. Although they’ve played The Ferret before, this is the first show that Josh, Ian and Si have put on themselves. It’s fully DIY, so every ticket sold goes directly to supporting the band.

We caught up with Ian to find out more about the history of the band, influences, and future plans.

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How did VICES come about?

The three of us have been close friends since around 2008 and we share the same passion for making and playing music, having been in different bands over the years. Si was previously in Preston band Population Four before joining established Blackpool band Me vs Hero and went on to tour the world. Josh and I have worked together for years over several musical projects. I also played bass for Manchester’s We Like Humans for a while prior to Covid. After the pandemic, the three of us were itching to get back into a musical project.

You’re putting on The Ferret gig yourselves – what else do you do in-house?

We do as much as we can and have a very DIY approach. Josh produces and mixes all our music, and I shoot our music videos and do graphic design. Si is the merch man and logistics. We have some great people behind us too, and we’re so lucky to have such a tight-knit team. Big shout out to Fran who shoots our social media. We also really appreciate our merch people and crew.

VICES on stage — VICES have played gigs across the North West

What your musical influences?

We’ve been compared to Bring Me The Horizon, Don Broco and Bad Omens and we love those bands. We’re influenced by a lot of rock and metal bands, all the way to pop and indie. Josh is a massive Freddie Mercury fan. I’m into the underground music scene and can often be found at festival smaller stages watching lots of up and coming bands. I also like melodic hardcore and metalcore such as Comeback Kid and Underoath. Si has a big pop-punk background with Blink-182 being a massive early influence, but he listens to all sorts – from The Beatles to Slaughter to Prevail. We all really like heavy, melodic music.

You’ve played gigs across the North West – where are your favourite spots?

Yes we’ve played in Preston, Manchester, Barrow, Carlisle, and more, and will soon be going further afield. In our hometown, The Ferret is one of our favourites – the staff are incredible and we absolutely can’t wait to return on 30 August. The Brickyard in Carlisle has also been a highlight and we’re trying to go back as soon as possible.

When will you be releasing new music?

Our next single, Chemicals, will be out on Friday 22 August. We’re incredibly proud of it. The song and music video cover quite dark themes, but it’s a fast, heavy, yet super catchy singalong anthem. Plus the video features several Preston locations that I’m sure locals will recognise. Although this isn’t our first video with actors, we feel this is a big step up in production and features some incredible performances. Hopefully people like it as much as we do. We also filmed part of the video within The Ferret, so massive thanks to Ian, Matt and all the other staff there.

What else is coming up?

On Friday 1 August we’re back to Barrow, headlining The Meeting Place. This is such a good venue and we’re looking forward to seeing some familiar faces. Then, we’re off up to Scotland where we’re headlining Legends in Edinburgh on Friday 5 September and Audio in Glasgow on Saturday 6 September in our first-ever Scottish shows. After this we’ll be concentrating on releasing our upcoming debut EP, but have started booking gigs for 2026 around the UK and hopefully we can make some festival appearances.

How can people find out more about you?

We list all our upcoming gigs first on the VICES website and you can subscribe to our mailing list from there to be the first to receive announcements. We’re also on all the main socials and love interacting with fans, so drop us a message or comment.