Australian Hardcore Is Stunning The Globe, And Polaris Are Heavy Hitters

Sydney-based metalcore/post-hardcore outfit Polaris are very much a band in demand. In fact, while their career has been super-busy so far, having released an EP early in 2016 and toured with the likes of Parkway Drive, Periphery, Plini and Northlane, the release of their recent single The Remedy and the imminent unleashing of their debut long-player The Mortal Coil will see them becoming head-spinningly busy. Just for starters, the band have a major tour of the nation coming up in support of said recent single, on which they are bringing three other up-and-coming luminaries of the Aussie heavy music scene: Belle Haven, Deadlights and Daybreak. 

"It's been a little over a year since we did our own headline tour," drummer Daniel Furnari reveals. "We've just done a handful of headline shows over the last nine months or so, just in Sydney and Melbourne, spaced out a little bit, and some club shows and stuff like that, so to get out and do a real run and take a bunch of friends on the road with us and really build a tour package is something we're psyched about."

Then the band members won't have time to spit before they jet off to the other side of the planet for a blistering run across Europe and the UK with the likes of Emmure, fellow Aussies Deez Nuts, Chelsea Grin and plenty more. "As soon as we finish this tour, The Remedy tour, we fly out to Europe two days later, so we've got no time to pack!" he states breathlessly. "It's the Never Say Die! tour in Europe, which is going to be wild."

It is the band's first true foray into a major foreign market. "We're used to Australian touring, where you play six to ten shows, and they're a bit spread out," Furnari admits. "This one's something like 26 shows in 25 days or something like that. We're doing it on a shared tour bus, which is going to be really fun; like a childhood dream to fly to Europe and jump on a bus.

"It doesn't even really feel real yet. It's in like a week or two and it's barely dawned on me that it's actually happening."

Polaris also have the 'trifling' matter of releasing their debut album and everything that goes along with that to contend with. "We've been so focused on what's happening here, we're filming a music video tomorrow, and there's so much happening to get the record ready," the drummer says, "and then it's like there's this huge trip happening, it's awesome to have that waiting for us.

"So it's a lot to take in. We didn't really expect to - I mean, we always hoped that we might get over to Europe on our first album cycle; we thought it would be a huge deal if we could do that. A lot of bands don't even leave Australia on a first album, but the first tour for us with the album out is over there so that's wild for us."

The style of music that Polaris play, and the scene in which they operate both in Australia and internationally, is in a very strong place and has been for several years now. While Polaris are a great band who write excellent songs and put on an exhilarating live show, the prevailing feeling is that the strength of their scene has been a driving force in building the great momentum they find themselves with right now.

"It's really funny, I hear so many people talking about the state of the scene today, the scene is dying and this and that, but I'm sitting here and I think the scene is fucking great! In many ways it's never been stronger," Furnari says with fervour. "You've got to look on it on different levels. On the local level, it is maybe struggling a little bit because of the lack of venues and the way the demographic has changed. Back in the day everyone at the local public school was coming down to local hardcore shows, but nowadays it's way less popular in high schools; it's not such a movement as it was when we got into it. So for local bands and new bands things may not be going as well as they could be, but, from another angle, the exposure that Australian hardcore music is getting globally is huge."

He believes that the reputation and aura of Australian hardcore bands have spread exponentially across the globe in recent times. "We've just done a bunch of interviews with European and international publications, and every single one of them was like, 'Australian hardcore bands, every single one of them seems to be amazing, what's going on?' It's really getting recognised, that was a thought that was repeated to me so many times."

Furnari also singles out a particular band that has really paved the way for other Aussie bands in this scene, including his own, to push themselves in their home country and get touring on a global scale. "The recognition overseas that a band like Parkway Drive have received - they've really been dominating the overseas markets and getting to the level over there that they were here, is really helping everybody."

And things are not letting up for Polaris in the new year either, quite the opposite. They are playing a run of dates with Parkway Drive across January for the ten-year anniversary of Horizons as well performing at what has become one of Australia's most prestigious music festivals. "We go straight to UNIFY, which is going to be amazing," he says. "We did that one this year and it was one of the best days of our lives, so we're psyched to do that again.

"Then we're straight onto the Parkway Horizons tour and that's going to pretty much smash out our January. Then we'll do another headline tour of Australia at some point during the year, we want to get to Europe again and maybe see if we can make it over to the US - it really depends on how things go at this stage. Then of course we'll start writing again for our next record, so it's looking like a pretty big year next year."

Longer term, the band are hungry to continue developing themselves, their sound, their profile and their career. They set goals for themselves on an ongoing basis, ultimately aiming towards one of the most unattainable prizes for young bands: to sustain themselves through their music. Furnari is optimistic that it can be achieved.

"When it comes to goals, it's a funny thing: every time you hit a goal, another goal appears in front of you," he laughs. "We're so grateful for all the things that we're doing at the moment, but we have some ambitions about where we want to take it. Every time we tick something off the list, people are like, 'You guys must be so stoked, this must be everything you had hoped for.' But by the time it's happened I'll be saying, 'Yeah, sick, but I'm actually thinking about the next thing now.'

"Our main goal is to get to the stage where we can be touring the majority of the year and to try to do this full time. It's hard and it's going to take a while, but that's the main goal."

Any parting words for The Music readers? "Yeah, buy our album, please! And thank you."