Divided By Design
British instrumental trio form widescreen ambitions for their dazzling talents
“Our music is a bit like 'YYZ' turned up to 11,” laughs guitarist Liam Stephenson, the spearhead of Lincoln-based instrumental trio Divided By Design. He’s one of the finest technical guitarists to have emerged from the underground in recent years, and he has an Ibanez partnership, over 40,000 Instagram followers, and a standout showing at Bloodstock 2025 to prove it.
Completed by drummer Tom Chambers and bassist Sam Young, a bumper 2025 came off the back of a series of evolutions. Stephenson and Chambers were schoolmates, introducing one another into Rush, Dream Theater, and Periphery before turning passion into creativity. A debut album, 'Stages To Osiris' with original bassist Joe Messingham followed in 2020, but they were soon down to a two piece. Stephenson knew they had room to grow.
“The first album was technique based,” he confesses. “It was, ‘How do I write music with tapping and lots of time signature changes?’ It all came from exploration; everyone's best music comes from searching for something new, and that's always been our approach.”
In the modern instrumental scene, supercharged as it is by the acrobatics of Animals As Leaders and Plini, there can be a lot of dick swinging. DBD were guilty of that, so they changed tact.
“I realised that, if we can play a show and the crowd sings a melody back to us, we're onto a winner,” he says. “I started to let my ear dictate how a song flows; it has to come from an internal place.”
Their first live shows were as a duo, but when Young entered the fray, everything started to click. And when Stephenson embedded himself in the local music scene, he established an unlikely-but-loyal following.
“I've been playing our music at open mic nights, which isn't something you’d typically see,” he smirks. “I was able to build quite a big community, to the point that when we reached the Metal 2 The Masses final in Leeds [to win a place at Bloodstock] so many people were invested in our story.”
After three more exploratory releases, DBD have returned to their roots, revitalised. They’ve revisited their debut album, finessing its narrative, which charts the five stages of grief, and injecting their newfound musicality into its technical excellence.
“'Denial' is our Dream Theater homage; every section is different, so the song is constantly in denial of everything that came before,” Stephenson details. 'Negotiation', which is based on bargaining, was the trickiest one to write. The main riff alternates between two different time signatures, and there's a lot of call and response; I think we were able to capture that concept far better this time.”
They’ll launch the record with their biggest headline show to at Lincoln’s The Drill on February 13, and its scale purposefully belies their stature.
“We've hired a string ensemble, a keyboardist, and another guitarist. It's been a huge undertaking,” Stephenson underlines. “But I haven't seen an underground band at our level do something as ambitious as this. That shows how ambitious we are.”
- Phil Weller
PROG FILE:
LINE-UP: Liam Stephenson (guitar), Tom Chambers (drums), Sam Young (bass)
SOUNDS LIKE: Dream Theater, Steve Vai and Periphery in a Laser Quest shootout in space; it’s complex and joyfully chaotic
CURRENT RELEASE: 'Stages to Osiris: Rebirth' releases February 13th and is self-released
WEBSITE: Music | Divided by Design