“We’re from a regional town, so it’s very important to us,” says vocalist Jake Taylor, two hours before taking the stage in Toronto for the penultimate show of the band’s Canadian tour. “We know what it’s like to basically be at a disadvantage to see shows and also play shows as a young band. It was very hard for us because we didn’t get the influx of Brisbane or Sydney shows. We had to travel to get to those cities, so it’s important to us that we make the effort and give other people the chance to be inspired and also to check out new places.
“I think we enjoy our regional tours more than the cities because we’ve got a local, hopefully a water hole or a beach to check out. The town’s got so much more character as opposed to a city which is, I don’t know – you get the same food chains all around the venues. We’re all about regional touring and we always have been.”
In Hearts Wake are nothing if not hardworking. They’ve spent the vast majority of 2015 in motion, clocking up well over 100 shows in the last seven months in support of their third album, Skydancer. The touring run has included three laps of North America, a tour across Australia and a jaunt through the European summer. And it’s not ending any time soon – a week after they round out the Canadian leg of their latest Northern hemisphere journey with Northlane, they’ll be back on home soil for another regional stint with Make Them Suffer.
Touring the world and playing to legions of adulating fans looks attractive from the outside, but in reality it’s an endless slog – a test of endurance with sleepless nights, entire evenings spent driving, showers skipped and unhealthy meals devoured at rest stops. On this most recent North American stint, Taylor says they’ll splash out on a shared hotel room maybe once every three nights. But covering so much territory in such a short period of time presents unique opportunities to see the landscape and develop tour rituals.
“We camped out in Banff National Park [in Alberta, Canada] which was incredible,” he says. “For anyone who hasn’t who doesn’t know what it is, definitely look it up. It’s quite something. I think it’ll be one of the best national parks that you’ve ever been to. That was a really cool night, sleeping out under the stars, having a little fire. We got hooked on disc golf, actually, which is like Frisbee golf. So we’ve been playing that in almost every second city. We’ve been rocking up to parks and finding the local disc golf courses and playing so we’re active during the day.”
All this touring began upon the release of Skydancer, the band’s third record, in May this year. Skydancer was recorded at the same time as its companion album, last year’s Earthwalker. Both sold incredibly well, especially considering In Hearts Wake don’t exactly have a mainstream sound. Earthwalker peaked at #5 on the ARIA charts, while Skydancer reached the #2 position, trailing Mumford and Sons but beating out Sam Smith, Ed Sheeran and Meghan Trainor in the week of its release. That kind of recognition is something few heavy bands attain, but for Taylor, it’s validation – not just for him and his bandmates, but for their fanbase and the entire community that supports artists like them.
“I do think it’s important because it’s the only time you’re ever measured up against any other pop artist of any genre. It is an important sign of reassurance that you’re doing something right. It’s also a testament – if we’re matching numbers of Ed Sheeran or Lily Allen in a week, I mean, it goes to show that a fraction of the Ed Sheeran fanbase might just be quite a small portion buying the CDs, but our fraction is quite a large one of our fanbase and it’s such a strong fanbase. I think that’s important to see and it’s important for the fans who support the band to see that the band they’re giving their time, energy and love into is also succeeding. It’s just a number, but it is quite a landmark and it’s a testament to a band’s growth. So it’s fantastic to have a top five record.”
After wrapping up the regional Australian tour at the end of the month, In Hearts Wake will return to Europe once again before heading off to America for the fourth time this year. After that, there are plans for their first Asian tour. If they’re lucky, they’ll be home for Christmas.
BY MATTHEW TOMICH
