Byron Bay metalcore band In Hearts Wake have “lots of little surprises” in store for fans this year.
The band recently announced 'The Equinox' tour, an all-Australian team up with Sydney metal band Northlane, and will also travel the country as part of regional festival series Groovin The Moo.
In Hearts Wake's unclean vocalist Jake Taylor says he’s excited about the festival. “I think I'm going to be surprised,” Jake says. “There's going to be a lot of new artists, so I’m kind of just going to check it out. I like Remi. Remi is cool. I really want to see them. Alison Wonderland would be interesting to see. But yeah, I'm there to discover, really.”
In January, the band had their song 'Breakaway', from their 2015 album 'Skydancer' make Triple J's Second Hottest 100, placing #139. Jake says it’s great the band gets to be “part of the Triple J talent”, remarking “it's showing us that we’re taking steps in the right direction 100 per cent”.
Jake says 'Breakaway' is a “powerful song” about “breaking away from the mould, making a change to what's going on. 'Breakaway' is a testament to male strength and reclaiming that, to finding the truth in that.”
With the next couple of months already looking massive for the band, Taylor is happy to have a little downtime. “I’m glad to be back in Byron after a massive tour of 200+ performances last year,” he says.
“I haven't been home for a while. So it's good. Really, really good. It's good to get some things in order. Your personal life [while touring] kind of gets put on hold, so it's nice to clean my room properly. I enjoy being home.”
Jake says returning to Byron Bay helps shape the band and their album-making process. “It's got a lot of natural surroundings, the hills, waterfalls, the beach,” he says. “Being exposed to the natural world everyday 100 per cent shapes who you are. You can see the human influence on it and how it really can change.
“So we’re interested in how we interact with it all and how we want everyone to have that accessibility to nature. It really does change our outlook on life.”
Last year, the band opened for Northlane during their 'Node' tour, and supported Parkway Drive during their 'Ire' tour. Regarding their busy schedule, Jake says the band are “repeat offenders to certain countries”.
“When you go to a new country it's always very exciting because you don't know what to expect. It's a part of what we do and we want to play in as many new places as possible for the rest of our career hopefully, so we'll see what comes next. Maybe the Middle East?” he suggests. “You never know.”
Jake says touring with so many great bands has been important for IHW to build their own audience. “If you take on too much to soon your back will either break or you'll just be an overnight success, and we know what happens to overnight successes.
“I watch TMZ and see all those bullshit shows and I see what happens to people that are given so much hype. So yeah, anything good in life you've got to build... it's not [built] overnight. You've got to build it piece by piece; you've got to build the foundations. And that's what we're doing, and that's what most great bands in the world have done.”
In Hearts Wake GTM Tour Diary
Sat 23 Apr - Groovin the Moo @ Maitland Showground (NSW)Sun 24 Apr - Groovin the Moo @ University of Canberra (ACT)
Mon 25 Apr - Groovin the Moo @ Oakbank Racecourse (SA)
Sat 30 Apr - Groovin the Moo @ Bendigo’s Prince Of Wales Showground (VIC)
Sun 1 May - Groovin the Moo @ Murray Sports Complex – Townsville Cricket Grounds (QLD)
Sat 7 May - Groovin the Moo @ Hay Park (WA)
Northlane & In Hearts Wake Tour Dates
Fri 10 Jun - Metro City (Perth)Sat 11 Jun - Thebarton Theatre (Adelaide)
Sun 12 Jun - Festival Hall (Melbourne)
Fri 17 Jun - The Tivoli Theatre (Brisbane)
Sat 18 Jun - Luna Park (Sydney)
