New album sees The Hara exactly where they want to be
Manchester trio The Hara released their new album The Fallout in January, on the back of which they are playing The Boileroom, Guildford on March 7 and the Green Door Store, Brighton on March 11.
The album is crucial to the band for so many different reasons.
Singer Josh Taylor said: “I think this is the most important piece of music we have made so far. The journey has not been linear. We have been with a few different labels and we've had our heart broken a few times. We had just moved from our last label and we were a bit lost really but it gave us time and the chance to look inwards and to work out what we wanted the band to be and what we wanted to happen. And I think what happened is that it all created the best music we've ever done. It's a great thing. But at the time things were really a little bit all over the place. We didn't know what the future would look like but then last year we got signed to Mascot Records, and they are the best team that we have worked with so far.
“There are so many different outside influences that you have on you to be this and to be that but at the end of the day I think it comes down to what you want as a band and what you want to achieve, and we have got that freedom with this label.
“The response to the album has been unreal. It is the best response we've had and we've had some radio play in America. We would love to go over there sometime soon. Playing live is always a good indication of how the music comes across. It all feels quite unreal until you play it live and we're loving the reaction.”
As for America, who knows: “It is the most interest that we have had over there. It definitely feels like the next step for us. I always do my goals at the start of the year and America was definitely right up there. What we'd love is to be picked up by a band that will take us out on tour.”
As for the name The Hara: “I guess the PR answer is that it is a centre of energy and that it is a spiritual thing and that it is reflective of where we are positioned. But it is actually because of a barbecue we had. It said Sahara on the barbecue and I looked at that and I said to the boys ‘What about The Hara? What about that for a name?’ So we are named after a barbecue pretty much!
“We all went to BIMM University Manchester and we were all on different courses. We kind of knew each other. I left after a year and I put an advert on Join My Band. Zack the guitarist came along and he had tattoos and long hair. I had no tattoos at the time and I just thought he looked cool and that he was going to be the one. A few months went by and we were looking at different drummers and different formations and I thought of Jack from university. He came along and it was amazing. It just clicked for the three of us. That was 2017.”
Since then, it has been “amazing and depressing and hard and fantastic – just every emotion. There's been no linear way. You create your own path and we're a completely different band now to what we were at the start. It's the sound. We have found our identity now. Our music has got a lot heavier. Our sound has changed completely. It was more pop back then to begin with but our influences grew, and the show we wanted to put on required us to get heavier. We've always been in love with the heavy bands.”