Lucy Redfern had the opportunity to talk with alternative rock trio The Hara, who have been going from strength to strength since their union in 2017.
The Hara have always been one of my go-to bands when anyone asks about my music taste. Getting heavier and heavier with each EP, the band skyrocketed up the rock and metal charts with their debut album Survival Mode, charting 3rd in the UK. From supporting pop-punk giants Sum 41 and playing rock festivals around the globe, The Hara are definitely exploding into the rock scene. I got the chance to catch up with Josh Taylor (frontman), Jack Kennedy (drums) and Zack Breen (guitar) about the ups and downs of a rock-and-roll lifestyle.
In typical Hara fashion, the band had no idea that their debut album had just turned seven months old as I wished a happy Survival Mode anniversary to three shocked faces. After a few seconds of disbelief from the lads we got onto talking about the creative process behind their debut album. ‘Quick but long,’ Josh deadpanned. The band then explained that the recording process itself all happened in a chaotic two weeks in December, whereas the whole creative process took around a year to complete. It appears though, that however demanding producing new music may be, the band are great at sharing the load.
‘It’s always been a group contribution. Like Zack will come up with a sick riff and I might write some lyrics. We take care of each other you know,’ Josh says.
The Hara’s sound has definitely progressed over the years, starting out with your classic boyband pop-rock feel to the recent synergy huge guitar riffs and borderline metal breakdowns featuring throughout Survival Mode. I asked the guys whether going down the heavier route was something they had planned when they released Accidental Love in 2018.
‘Probably subconsciously it's what we hoped for. But we’d never planned it out,’ Josh says. Jack and Zack joked, ‘we all just kept getting one more tattoo and it went from there.’
‘We saw our first mosh pit and thought, yeah this is it,’ Josh adds, with the lads all agreeing that if you told The Hara in 2018 that they’d be charting third in the UK rock and metal charts, it’d come as a pretty significant shock. ‘It’s the natural evolution,’ Josh says, ‘you can’t predict it.’
But The Hara are no strangers to success, after being invited to play alongside Sum 41 earlier this year, following a successful tour run, playing on the main stage at Reading Festival, Download and Rock for People. I had a quick chat with the band about any other dream artists they’d love to play with or look up to and any upcoming festival plans for 2024.
‘Bizkit,’ Josh immediately said, with a chorus of agreements from Jack and Zack. ‘Bring Me The Horizon, Bad Omens, Avenged Sevenfold too,’ Zack added, pointing to the Avenged Sevenfold t-shirt he was wearing. ‘Electric Callboy,’ Josh added, which coincidentally was the artist playing when I walked back into the concert room. ‘Unfortunately, it's not looking like we’re going to be able to make any festivals this year,’ Josh says, ‘we have some new music on the way but festival organizers want it now to be able to book anything and it’s just not ready’ he explains. As sad as it is, it seems like we won’t be getting any repeats of Josh scaling Reading’s main stage scaffolding in his boxers this year, although the boys did allude to a potential hope for The Hara to return to the stage with a UK summer tour.
However, for any fan of The Hara, it is known that even without festival bookings, there’ll be no shortage of content produced from the boys. Racking up a whopping 320k followers on TikTok, with a plethora of viral videos, we talked about the role of social media in the success of The Hara. When asked whether there is ever pressure to constantly be pumping out these viral videos, I was met with an immediate ‘yes, constantly,’ from Josh, with Jack adding ‘all the time.’ Whilst the band recognizes the importance of social media on reaching a modern day audience, they expressed how draining it can be to feel like an element of your career as a music artist depends on viral videos rather than just the music.
"Whilst the band recognizes the importance of social media on reaching a modern day audience, they expressed how draining it can be to feel like an element of your career as a music artist depends on viral videos rather than just the music."
‘It’s shit sometimes,’ Josh says, ‘It’s something we’re hoping eventually we don’t have to rely on.’
Wrapping up our chat on a less serious note, the lads gave me a quick stick and poke tattoo tour which was as unhinged as you’d expect from The Hara. Zack boasted a stick and poke robot drawn by Jack, alongside a fading circle A that Josh proudly claimed as his work, before quickly interjecting with a shakily drawn Bart Simpson on his elbow. Last but not least, Jack explained his slightly less appropriate stick and pokes, ending the interview with what can only be described as the quote of the day, ‘caterpillar on my widge.’ You heard it here first.
After a somewhat TMI filled tattoo tour, my time with the band was cut short. Wishing the lads good luck for their show and later endeavours, I headed back to the main room to enjoy what later proved to be a wonderfully chaotic show filled with epic guitar solos, crowd surfing, pits and soaring vocals. It wasn’t my first time seeing The Hara and most definitely won’t be my last!
Lucy Redfern
Edited by Tabitha Smith
Featured Images courtesy of The Hara Band via Facebook
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