Wake up and listen closely

BYRON Bay metalcore masters In Hearts Wake are doing another lap of this Great Southern Land, and are ready to park their ark in Hobart and Launceston this weekend.

In Hearts Wake — frontman Jake Taylor, guitarists Ben Nairne and Eaven Dall, bassist Kyle Erich and drummer Conor Ward — formed in 2006, but really broke through in 2014 with the release of their second album, Earthwalker, which won awards from the likes of iTunes, Triple J and Blunt Magazine.

Their third album Skydancer debuted at No.2 on the ARIA chart in May 2015, and the band chalked up its third straight top-five album when Ark reached No.3 on the charts last June.

Ark received rave reviews around the world, with Rolling Stone declaring that the album “firmly cements [In Hearts Wake] as one of Australian metal’s greatest”.

To coincide with the release of Ark, In Hearts Wake partnered with Tangaroa Blue for the We Are Waterborne initiative, which saw 200 of the band’s fans collect more than 17,400 pieces of rubbish from some of Australia’s most polluted waterways.

The second half of 2017 saw In Hearts Wake embark on their biggest Australian tour to date to launch Ark, then tour New Zealand, Europe and the US.

In December they released a video for their version of Silverchair’s 1997 No.1 hit Freak, which features on the Silverchair tribute album Spawn (Again).

Now In Hearts Wake have set off on their Great Southern Land national tour, which will see them play 28 shows across the country over a threemonth period. They are joined on the road by Brisbane fourpiece Young Lions — whose latest album Mr Spaceman reached No.3 on the iTunes charts in August — and Melbourne post-hardcore band Belle Haven.

In Hearts Wake, Young Lions and Belle Haven play at Hobart’s Waratah Hotel from 8pm on Saturday (with local five-piece metalcore band Eloraline), and at Club 54 in Launceston from 8pm on Sunday. Tickets to each show are $28.60. For bookings go to www.oztix.com.au