Interview: Tory, Kyle, Tommo, & Kristian from Harbours

Melbourne rockers Harbours are very quickly becoming a band you need to hear! The 5-piece are preparing for a massive set supporting Mayday Parade on their upcoming tour. In the middle of their first co-headline tour with Our Past Days a few weeks ago we sat down with Tommo, Kristian, Tory, and Kyle and chatted all things hygiene, recording, and Tarzan!

You’ve just gotten off stage after your first Brisbane headline set, first of all how was it? 

Kyle: Yeah, it was good man! Lot of people through the doors, lot of people still here sitting around after lights have gone down so it’s nice to see a lot of people have come through!

And you arrived in Brissie after a hefty 10 hour drive from Newcastle, what are four tips to staying fresh on tour?

Tory: Oh god! (laughs)

Kyle: Um, take multiple drivers! Have a sick playlist on Spotify, like a really sick one!

Tommo: Wet wipes!

Kristian: Wet wipes are important.

Kyle: When you don’t have a shower baby wipes are the key!

Tory: Brushing your teeth, always having toothpaste and a toothbrush. ‘Cause even if you don’t have a shower, if you brush your teeth, it makes you feel so much better.

Tommo: Also that dry shampoo stuff comes in handy.

You’re currently at the tale end of your national tour with Our Past Days, what have been some highlights so far?

Tory: Well I guess all the shows really. I think all the shows have blown our expectations out of the water. We’ve never really done shows as a headliner before, we’ve always supported and played to other bands fans. I think overall the most mind-blowing thing hasn’t been a specific highlight but just the tour in general, how well the turnouts have been and the interaction with people and see that they actually care about our band! Knowing that those people are there to see you is a good feeling.

The first time I saw you guys live you were opening for With Confidence on their most recent Australian tour. You have a very crowd focussed set, is that always a conscious decision to try and maximise the live experience for your fans?

Tory: Yeah, I think what we try to base our music off is the connection with the audience, whether that be through the guitars or drums or how the music is put together. I guess when it comes to the live performance we really try to blow people away and hopefully they can take something away from that and be able to connect with it!

You guys released your EP ‘Nothing Stays The Same’ a little while ago now. Your sound has developed from very punk based to more aggressive and rock oriented. Do you feel as though you’ve found your sound or is it something you want to continually experiment with?

Tommo: Definitely experiment! I mean since ‘Nothing Stays The Same’ has come out, the stuff we’ve been writing since has continued to evolve and we have a pretty wide spectrum of music that we’re into and I think that comes through as an influence. We just don’t really want to limit ourselves you know.

Tory: I think that’s where the basis of all our writing comes from. It’s the fact that we are all so diverse in what we listen to, like we listen to jazz, RnB, rock…

Kyle: The ‘Tarzan’ soundtrack! Phil Collins, check it out if you haven’t!

(Everyone laughs)

Tory: But yeah, y’know, Kristian plays Doom at five in the morning, just pure noise while we’re doing overnight drives! But I think, back to the question, it just comes down to our background naturally to just experiment and diversify our sound consistently.

Well I did notice a few new songs in your set, do we get a lil’ Easter egg in terms of when we might be able to hear studio versions?

Kyle: Ahhhh, long answer and short answer is no (laughs). If you want to see the new songs you’ll have to come see us play!

And you record everything yourselves with your other guitarist Sam, how does the DIY aspect of recording help more than a professional studio environment?

Kyle: It gives us the time to analyse the song and change something that might not suit, so with Sam we have time to go back and rerecord and we’re not strapped for time! We’re working towards getting the best release possible. Which is what we did with ‘Nothing Stays The Same’, it took us a very long time to get those certain songs together and ready.

We changed things every couple of weeks, so having Sam there, as both a main writer and our recording guy, it means that the product we can put out is 100 per cent polished and the best that we know we can do.

Awesome man! And just wrapping up, if you could get any musician dead or alive to guest spot on one of your songs, who would it be and why?

Kristian: This is a very difficult question… Michael Jackson! He’s a good guy! (laughs)

Kyle: I’m going to have to go with, and purely because they got me into music, Serj from System Of A Down. I don’t know how that would work but that would be sick!

Tory: Ooh, I’ll have to say Daniel Johns from Silverchair. I think he’s a brilliant mind and I love all their music so yeah I’d have to say him, he’s just amazing!

Tommo: Frank Zappa for me. I grew up listening to him, he’s crazy, a crazy composer and great guitarist!

Cheers for the chat guys!

Check out our photo gallery from the show HERE

Harbours Tour Dates

SUN 2 OCT
Phoenix Youth Centre, Melbourne
SUN 9 OCT
170 Russell, Melbourne – SOLD OUT

Get Tickets HERE