In the lead-up to the release of their new album Ark, and subsequent Australian tour, In Hearts Wake are showing no sign of slowing down.
It is 9.30am UK time, In Hearts Wake frontman Jake Taylor is enjoying some rare down time, sitting in an old-fashioned English pub, drinking a glass of milk. Rather than trashing hotel rooms and partying like rock stars, the group have been spending their time in between shows exploring, seeking out hidden spots and even checking out the set for Diagon Alley where the Harry Potter movies were filmed.
The highlight of their tour so far, according to Taylor, was Groezrock festival in Belgium, “We played an 11.30pm slot, there was no security on the front gates, it was six degrees and the mosh was insane,” he says.
In Hearts Wake’s new album Ark, is almost upon us, and will see them heading on an Australian tour in July. Keeping with the band’s history of albums with eco-conscious messages, Ark hones in on the importance of water sustainability.
“It’s been so apparent to me how much we rely on water, all of humanity is built around water,” says Taylor. “We live in Byron, it’s a beautiful coastal area but people treat it like an ashtray, you’d be horrified by the pollution you see.”
Like their previous albums, Ark also takes inspiration from the broader concept of life and the Earth. The album involves, “Looking at the Earth more as a whole. It’s a powerful thing but it’s so small in the grand scheme of things,” says Taylor. “If we don’t work together to protect this ship and it goes down, we go down with it.”
When it comes to writing new songs, Taylor finds much of his inspiration in seemingly simple things, with the band’s hometown serving as a great muse. Taylor says he wrote Frequency after spotting a whale while he was out surfing. He sat on his board and watched the whale, imaging it as “the loneliest whale in the world,” and later penned the song from that whale’s perspective.
“I’ve always got a big pad of lyrics happening and we take the strongest lyrics from that, but the vibe has to match,” says Taylor. “It’s like having a movie and matching the soundtrack.”
Proving they practice what they preach, In Hearts Wake have opted for a different approach than their usual record store signings to promote the release of Ark. Instead, In Hearts Wake have teamed up with marine charity Tangaroa Blue for their project We Are Waterborne: An In Hearts Wake Initiative, which will have the band members conducting waterway clean-ups across major east coast waterways in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Byron Bay across the end of May and the start of June. “Instead of doing in-store signings we get to clean up the oceans and meet the fans in the process,” says Taylor.
In Hearts Wake plan on taking their We Are Waterborne project overseas in the future, but Taylor says, “[There’s] nothing in concrete, it takes a lot of organising but it’s definitely something we are pushing for in the future.”
Keeping with their down to earth ethos, the band chose to record Ark in a humble setting. “We decided to do it in Mullumbimby, which is about a 15-minute drive from home in Byron.
“We recorded at our bass players’ uncle’s home studio,” Taylor says. “When I say home studio, it is an actual studio but it’s nothing glamorous, there are cows eating grass right outside the window.
“It’s a rainforest, so it really breathed the essence of what the album is about: life.”
Ark holds the same melodious heavy metal sound that has earned In Hearts Wake their massive following, but Taylor says fans can expect something a little different.
“A more emphatic tone with the rock-ier songs, production stepped up a notch and electronic layers,” he says.
Taylor is excited to get back home to see friends and family and kick off the album tour, which will see In Hearts Wake playing five shows over the course of six days. Above all, he is looking forward to the release of Ark. His parting words and advice for fans was simply, “Have a listen, enjoy it and invest yourself in the themes of the album.”
