The acts of Download 2025 reveal their must-have gear and talk music making

24 June 2025

We hit Download Festival 2025 for exclusive chats with the acts defining rock in 2025.

From stage legends to rising stars, here, Audio Media International goes backstage at Download Festival with some of the most exciting names in rock and metal for an all-access look at their gear, songwriting, and touring life.

Bex April May caught up with Zach Myers of arena rock titans Shinedown, viral guitar virtuoso Sophie Lloyd, and pop-rock powerhouse LOLO, plus alt-rock trio Arrows in Action, new punk provocateur BEX, and Ukrainian metal heavyweights Jinjer. Also joining us: melodic Swedish death metallers Orbit Culture, your new favourite Brazilian punk rocker, Karen Dio, and extreme metal icon Dani Filth of Cradle of Filth.

From making metal mega hits for farmers, to TikTok fatigue and dream collabs, this is the unfiltered, on-the-ground download… from Download.

Let’s talk guitars. What’s your setup on tour, and what guitar do you have today?

Zach Myers [guitar], Shinedown: I have about 20 guitars today. It’s a giant rig with Synergy power amps and a Fractal for effects. My rig is analogue and digital: Martin acoustics, and my signature PRS guitar. There are two guitar vaults on stage!

Sophie Lloyd: My absolute favorite brand is Kiesel Guitars. They’re a California-based brand, and I actually have my own Signature Series with them. I was the first female to get a signature series with them, which was really cool. I have my SL6X and SL6, which are so much fun. The SL6X has a Sustainiac system, which makes the craziest, silliest noises. You can shred for days on it.

Arrows in Action: We love Fender Telecasters forever – especially the Chris Shiflett Fender Telecaster.

Lolo: I have a few Teles, but my favourite Tele is my first one. It’s a black one, American-made, it’s really cool. I always take that on stage.

Eugene Abdukhanov [bass] Jinjer: The guitar I’m playing now is my favorite – it’s a Mayones Jabba 5. I’ve just switched to them as an endorser, and it’s the best instrument I’ve ever had. It’s comfortable, looks amazing – almost like a classical jazz bass but with muscles – and most importantly, the sound. It’s super responsive, especially in the mid-frequency range, which cuts through the guitar wall. That’s crucial when you play metal. It fits my style perfectly.

Karen Dio: I keep it very clean on stage. I just use a tiny distortion pedal and a tuner, that’s it. I’m very basic, because my focus is more on singing and playing. But I love guitars – I love SGs – and that’s what I have on stage. I like distortion, and that’s it. You’re not going to see me doing loops or anything. I appreciate that stuff, but it’s not my thing.

BEX: We have two basses live, and no guitar. So our setup is bass, bass, drums, one vocal. We run through a Quad Cortex, so no amps. We just have this one big box that has everything in it. We just plug in and play, really.

When it comes to music production, what are your favourite bits of kit, gear, or software?

Arrows in Action: Shoutout to our producer Dan Swank – he’s done almost everything with us since 2019. We use Omnisphere for some really cool sounds. We love a good synth. Love a Kemper amp too. Jesse’s an SJC drums guy. And if anyone wants to sponsor vocal cords, we’re available!

Niklas Karlsson [vocals and rhythm guitar] & Fredrik Lennartsso [bass], Orbit Culture: Cubase, the DAW. I downloaded a cracked version back in the day – but I’ve bought plenty of licenses since, so I think I’ve paid it back! I’ve learned so much from that software. I’ve been using it for 15 years. That’s the most important to me. Then Logic, and the MIDI piano. We love Neural DSP guitar and bass plugins too. When they release a new amp, you know it’s gonna be killer, every time. The Digitech Whammy pedal is always fun. Recently, we actually bought a real amp for the first time in our career – the EVH 515. We used it for a month, then said, “Let’s go back to plug-ins.” But hey – it’s a nice piece of furniture. It looks great!

Karen Dio: Right now, I’m using a Lionheart amp, which is what I use on stage as well. When I’m just working by myself, I use GarageBand – it’s very classic. When I want to make a proper demo, then we use Logic. And when I say “we,” I mean me and my husband – we write together. My Husband is Matt from Dinosaur Pile-Up. That’s how we started doing my whole solo career – I was doing my own thing, and he’s helped me out so much. I love him to death. He has loads of plugins inside Logic, and that’s how we work! It’s music all day in our home! It’s a blessing and a curse – but we do it because we love it.

Eugene, Jinjer: We just plug in and record to a metronome, playing our riffs. We’ve never recorded an album live, though some bands like Opeth do. We might try it someday, but so far, we record each instrument individually and then mix.

BEX: I’m not techy – we use Logic and the Quad Cortex for all our sounds, and the bass. We don’t use samples or anything. We use standard PreSonus, a MacBook, and a Shure SM7B mic: simple setup.

Lolo: I just walk in there and record! I write a lot of my songs just on acoustic guitar in my bed, and then I let my producer turn it into what it is.

What’s your songwriting process like? How do songs come to life for you?

Lolo: I always start with lyrics. I’m a lyrics girl first. I have a note in my phone with all my different ideas. Or sometimes I’ll just write out poems, and I’ll put a lyric melody to it. Then, when I’m feeling that, then I’ll take it to a producer. He somehow understands my language. I’m like, “Make it sound more ‘purple’.” And he’ll say, “Got you, girl.” We have our own language.I’m lucky that he really understands me. It’s easier for me with the acoustic songs. I can explain it, but I’m really bad at production, so I’m lucky to have good producers around me.

Orbit Culture: In Sweden, where we’re from, we have more barns than apartment buildings. So really we make ‘farmer’s metal’. We’re very much bedroom writers; DIY. We put on Superior Drummer or similar software, a basic 4/4 beat, and just write away. We don’t really sit together and jam, we build it piece by piece. It’s very raw – pagan, even. Pagan writing and farmer’s metal! We write very simple song structures: intro, verse, chorus. A progressive death metal fan might think we suck, but we like it, so let us be! That said, we want the production to be huge, but not too sterile – that’s a problem these days. Everything’s so edited. We try to keep things human. Even if the production is big, we’ll move files around so it feels natural and alive.

Arrows in Action: Sometimes someone brings in a melody or concept and we build it together. Other times we start from scratch: just jamming and humming until we hit something we love. Some songs are written in a day, others take weeks. Both approaches are rewarding, and our albums are a mix of both.

Eugene, Jinjer: Generally, for the last three or four albums, each of us brings a song. We each create a sketch or composition and bring it to the band. Everyone contributes to arranging it. For example, Vlad [drummer] might write a song, I’ll create the bassline, we record a demo, and then Tatiana [vocals] writes the lyrics and crafts her vocal lines.

What excites you about the state of rock in 2025? Any trends you’re noticing?

Zach, Shinedown: I think it’s better than it was five years ago. Truly. Look at a band like Sleep Token. I saw them on the fourth or fifth stage two years ago, playing at 4pm – and now they’re headlining the whole Download festival. Bands like Falling In Reverse, Beartooth, Bad Omens – these bands are amazing, and they’re coming up. Rock’s in a better place than it was a couple years ago.

Karen Dio: I’m very excited to see this new wave of punk rock and pop punk bands coming back; garage rock. There are so many amazing bands. One thing I’ve noticed here is there are a lot of authentic and genuine artists emerging after a long time. Especially now, with AI coming out, I think we’re going to see even more authentic artists stepping forward.

BEX: There’s such a bubble of new artists coming in. They’re kind of taking over. They have different morals from older rockers. There’s a real nice hustle growing in this new wave of rock and alt punk. There’s definitely a lot of opportunity for new artists. It’s hard because it’s very oversaturated, with lots of bands doing the same thing. There’s a lot of copying and content stealing, which I’m really not vibing with. I want people to be themselves. But aside from that, the OGs are pushing through and getting those opportunities.

Lolo: I think the rise of new pop-rock or pop punk artists is cool. I think that everyone’s kind of taking a different spin on it. I’d never even really consider myself pop-punk, but I guess I am pop with punk elements. I feel like punk is more of an attitude rather than a genre. What would I consider mine? I feel like it’s pop rock, but I hate describing myself in a genre – I’ve done all these heavy rock, heavy metal festivals, and I’m like, “Hey guys!” and I’m just this girly pop over here!

Eugene, Jinjer: I don’t follow trends. I admit I’m old – I just have a few bands I listen to over and over again. It’s hard for modern music to catch my attention. One of the more recent discoveries I liked was Carbon. They just released an EP – sick music. I also like Leprous.

What would you say to someone who claims ‘rock is dead’?

Karen Dio: They’re just not catching up with what’s going on. There’s always going to be a new rise of artists. New artists are coming, and you just need to update yourself, because there are so many amazing new artists out there. Rock’s not dead!

Zach, Shinedown: Dude! I play arenas every night. Rock is not dead. There are 40 other rock bands doing the same thing. Rock is very much alive. I dismiss that notion every time I hear it. Anyone who says “rock is dead” is a curmudgeon. Sometimes I think people just say it to get more press.

BEX: Rock is not dead. Rock never died. Punk never died. No one died – you just stopped listening to it.

What’s one must-have gadget or bit of tech you take on tour?

Arrows in Action: An international power converter. A little notebook – sometimes we write ideas that turn into songs, a small travel guitar, which is kind of trash now because of how we’ve treated it, but it’s perfect for writing in the van or in the evening.

Zach, Shinedown: Other than my phone, my iPad. I watch a lot of shows. And I keep a little portable fan with me, because you guys’s… air conditioning isn’t the best.

Orbit Culture: Airpods are good. And not a gadget, but my disgusting fucking pillow which has been with me to every continent now. And obviously, Swedish snus.

How do you feel about social media and the TikTok culture of music today?

Eugene, Jinjer: It’s a bit too much. Everything depends on social media now – on hype, on looks, and creating buzz from nothing. That’s always been part of it, but in the past, it was more about the music. Still, no matter how much I complain, I can’t change it. This is the system we’ve agreed to play in, and these are the rules. I don’t believe anyone can change it now. The system has won.

Lolo: I kind of hate it. I feel like when people make music for TikTok, it never ends up being good – including myself. If you’re trying too hard to accomplish something, it feels inauthentic, and I feel like every artist learns that the hard way. So that kind of sucks. But it’s also a catch-22. It’s amazing for music discovery. That’s how I kind of got more discovered, through TikTok, so I can’t hate on it too much. I think the biggest issue is that all of us artists are now also having to be content creators – and God, that takes a lot of hours, which you could be writing songs or performing or that kind of stuff. Whenever I feel really cringe doing a TikTok, I used to say to myself, “Would Billie Joe Armstrong do this?” or, “Would Mark Hoppus do this?” But thenI think those people would have done whatever it took to make it. Right now, that’s what it takes. You have to play the TikTok game… so I’m playing.

BEX: It’s not ideal, but it does open new doors. It’s easy for someone to hear a part of your song and promote your music. Not many bands are flyering or postering anymore. But it creates expectation, laziness, entitlement – the idea that, ‘I posted myself, so it should go viral!’ No! A song going viral doesn’t create real fans, just people who’ve heard 10 seconds of your song. They’re not invested in the journey, just that snippet.

Orbit Culture: Social media is definitely a friend of ours. Without it, coming from a small town, we wouldn’t be here. At first, we thought, “No one wants to see some big Swedish guy on their screen,” so we didn’t upload anything until our latest single. But that video got 200,000 views. Now, we’ll try more. Times change, tech changes, you have to follow along.

Arrows in Action: It’s hard to say because we didn’t really exist before TikTok, so we can’t compare. But it’s been hugely beneficial to us. Each artist finds their own way to use TikTok. It might not be for us in the same way, but it works for others. If this was 20 years ago, we’d be using MySpace instead. There’s always a “thing.” No one calls Panic At The Disco a “MySpace band” anymore – so in 20 years, no one will say “TikTok band” either. TikTok doesn’t factor into our songwriting, but afterwards, we might say, “That bridge into the chorus could be a great 30-second TikTok clip.” Our goal is to write really catchy pop songs that still have musicality and substance. Like our song “All the Ways I Could Die” – it had no music video, no push, but it blew up on TikTok. So, post every song!

If you could collaborate with any other artist, who would you choose?

Lolo: Green Day. That would be my dream collab, for sure. Or I would love to write with Taylor Swift. I know that’s the polar opposite, but I think she’s one of the best songwriters of our time.

Dani, Cradle of Filth: Oh well, we’ve done Ed Sheeran, so I can’t think of anybody else. That was the top!

Thanks to all at Download Festival. 2026 tickets are on sale now.