They’ve been lied to, ripped off and left stranded overseas. But instead of packing it in and calling it a day, they’ve lived to tell the tale. They’ve come out of it a little jaded, though a lot wiser. “Over the past two or three years, we’ve been messed with so many times that it’s beyond a joke.”
The second album You, Me and Everything In Between, chronicles their raw emotions, and acts as a cautionary tale to aspiring musicians everywhere. “I wanted it to be really cathartic,” Vernon says. “I really thought releasing this record would help us as a band to deal with some of the stuff that we’d been through with various so-called professionals.
“But ultimately the album has been written for a while now. It’s about to come out, and every time I spin it, nothing feels resolved. I don’t know – I’m still on that endless pursuit of happiness.”
Speaking candidly, Vernon says while it will take time for past wounds to heal, he can certainly see the silver lining. “We’ve learned a lot, these experiences have been the biggest learning curve for us. It’s changed the way we view our music, now we’re a lot more responsible, and our eyes have definitely been opened,” he says.
“What happened definitely says a lot about our naivety and also to a degree a bit of our laziness too, because we wanted to let other people handle stuff that we couldn’t be bothered doing which always backfired on us.”
Determined not to make the same mistakes, Vernon says they wanted a fresh start at a different label – and after meeting the founders of Greyscale Records, Ash Hull and Josh Merriel, they knew they would be in good hands. “Working with Ash and Josh was an easy decision because they were the only ones that we could really trust with our baby – You, Me and Everything In Between – and they’ve fulfilled and exceeded everything that they promised us during this process and offered so much support, not just as a label but as friends. It’s been uplifting for us as a band, and as people, to work with Josh and Ash, and I hope they see this because they deserve to know that.”
Another new addition to the family is talented drummer Jake Zammit. “Jake wasn’t in the band when we wrote and recorded it, but he certainly named it,” Vernon says. “Not that long ago we were in Sydney and we were all eating Chinese for lunch before playing a show with While She Sleeps, and we were talking about the release of the record (which was actually called something else), and he said, ‘I love how the record starts with [the song] You and then there’s Me, and then there’s everything in between.’ We all went silent. He said ‘That was the concept, yeah?’ Then we all said ‘Dude, you’re a genius. Is it too late to change the album name?’ And we changed it just in the nick of time.”
To celebrate the release of their upcoming album and latest single Selfmade, Belle Haven are heading out on a national tour in June with Greyscale alumni Deadlights, and hardcore punks Ambleside. “We picked the two national supports for this tour ourselves. We’ve wanted to tour with Ambleside for a couple of years. Whenever we go to Adelaide we stay with them and hang out and have a great time, but we don’t often get to play shows together.
“Deadlights, however, was a last minute thing. It was just going to be us and Ambleside but then Ash at Greyscale was like, ‘I think it would be a cool idea if you took this band we’ve just signed, Deadlights, on the tour as well.’ We’d never really heard of them before, but then he sent us their album, Mesma and we all gave it a spin and we were like, ‘Man. This is so good.’ ” Vernon says. “We met a couple of them down here when they came Melbourne. They’re lovely and the music is great – it’s really unique stuff and we couldn’t be happier to be on the road with them.
“We can’t wait to start the tour because this album is definitely us moving forward. This year has been a huge turning point and I think that’s going to be obvious at these shows.”
