Inhaler On Their 'Emotional' Return To Australia: ‘We’re Onto Something, And It’s Really Exciting’

Inhaler are enjoying the kind of career trajectory any young band would only dream of.

The Irish rock band formed in Dublin in 2012 with vocalist and guitarist Elijah (Eli) Hewson, guitarist and keyboardist Josh Bartholomew Jenkinson, drummer Ryan McMahon, and bassist Robert Keating. After originating at college and working out who they are as a band (plus gigging), Inhaler dropped their debut single, I Want You, in 2017.

Following another string of singles, the rockers opened for Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds in 2019 ahead of dropping their debut, self-titled EP during their 2019-2020 shows. Winning the 2021 Music Moves Europe Talent Award and being shortlisted for the MTV Push UK & Ireland competition, Inhaler started moving towards releasing their debut album, It Won’t Always Be Like This, which they released in July 2021.

The band’s three albums – It Won’t Always Be Like This, Cuts & Bruises (February 2023), and Open Wide (February 2025) have debuted at #1 in their native Ireland, plus #1 in the UK with their first album, and #2 with their follow-up releases. Plus, It Won’t Always Be Like This was the quickest-selling debut album on vinyl from any band this century.

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The band have also amassed a devoted following in Australia, which led to Inhaler touring Down Under for the first time in August 2024—and selling out all the shows. Reviewing the band’s first-ever show in Brisbane, The Music’s Liv Dunford commented on the sold-out gig: “With an energetic and groovy show, it’s little wonder why Inhaler command devotion in Australia.”

Inhaler begin their second Australian tour in Perth tonight, kicking things off with a show at the Astor Theatre before heading to Brisbane’s The Tivoli (5 June), Sydney’s Enmore Theatre (6 June), and Melbourne’s Forum (9 and 10 June). They’ll be joined by DICE in Perth and BIIG TIME at all other shows.

The Music catches up with Eli Hewson—son of Bono—and Ryan McMahon ahead of their return to Australia. Reflecting on the madness of their debut shows Down Under, which occurred not even a year ago, the pair admit they couldn’t have expected the rapturous response they received, being a band from the other side of the globe.

“I know Melbourne was especially rowdy, but they all were, you know, it was a very intense experience for us, actually, because we had never been that far away from home,” McMahon tells. The jet lag was also a struggle to fight. “The jet lag is absurd, so we didn’t really know what to expect going into the first gig.”

McMahon continues, “To go that far away and hear people singing back the words to your songs, and singing back bass lines, guitar solos, hooks, all of that… it was kind of emotional for us, to be honest. We were just like, ‘What are you guys doing here?’ Showing up at the first venue in Sydney and seeing people waiting outside was quite mad.

“We were like, ‘How has this happened?’ We didn’t expect to be going back so soon, and we’re going back next week, which is wild.”

Inhaler are more prepared for facing the jet lag this time around, sharing that they’ve “adopted a mentality” that allows them to accept that the jet lag is bad, but if that’s as bad as it gets, they can cope. Really, as long as they don’t have a repeat of what happened before they played at Melbourne’s Prince Bandroom last year, they’ll be fine.

Hewson admits that ten minutes before the band and crew were set to take the stage, they were all asleep—other than McMahon.

“We were in Melbourne; I’ve got this amazing picture of literally, I was the only one who didn’t fall asleep, but it was like all the band and all the crew just passed out on the floor because there were no chairs in the backstage, and then I look back at the time at which I took it, and it was literally 15 minutes before we went on stage, and everyone was just knocked out,” McMahon says.

Hewson added, “Then we got up, and we just managed to hype ourselves up, and we did the show, and it was so much fun, but it was funny.”

McMahon concurs: “It was really funny.”

Hewson: “Blasted a bit of INXS to get us in the zone. It was great.”

McMahon: “They are the band that did the pop-rock so perfectly.”

This time around, Hewson is most excited to meet the fans and just enjoy the vibe in Australia, while McMahon is stoked about having more time Down Under on this tour. Having experienced such a warm welcome on their last Australian tour, Hewson and McMahon are feeling confident about bringing Open Wide to theatre stages.

“I will say, it’s been my favourite album release, if that makes sense, to kind of discover playing live,” Hewson notes. “They [the songs] get a really good reception, as well. So, that’s something, you know, we’re onto something, and it’s really exciting. They translate really well.”

With their first two albums, Inhaler wanted to make the songs sound big, like it was recorded live on stage; like you were right there with them. With Open Wide, however, they had a new intention: to make an album you could blast in your car or your living room; something slightly more relaxed and explore a different aspect of storytelling, all while retaining the overarching aspects of Inhaler songs. Their new album, even with its differences, still demands your attention.

Open Wide had multiple deadlines, but the band kept pressing for time: they knew they were onto something different, something a little more expansive on a sonic level, and the additional time only served their songwriting.

“From a songwriter’s perspective, I think it aided us in a lot of ways,” McMahon reveals. “Last year, we had about eight months of no touring, so it left us to just write so many different songs. And not only that, [the band got to] hone in, in a big way, to the song that did make it on the record, and eventually, when we went into record the album, there were no songs left unrecorded.”

The thirteen songs you hear on Open Wide are the songs the band recorded in the studio, but that’s not to say Inhaler don’t have more music hiding away for later releases.

McMahon teases, “There’s a whole heap of music that exists on our laptops that might never see the light of day, some of it might, you never know, but I think it did aid us massively, just having a lot of time off and putting it out a little bit later than we had originally anticipated, for sure.”

While it’s a cohesive album, in terms of the vibe—Open Wide is packed with bright, danceable, pop-rock tunes—there are two songs towards the end of the album that flirt with darkness. There’s the Western-inspired fun of X-Ray, while Concrete feels like Inhaler trying their hand at a The Cure song, especially when the riff comes in. Ironically, though, X-Ray was originally the song inspired by The Cure.

McMahon says the cold weather might have influenced the hint of The Cure, and so did the light of recording in a studio with a window. Citing the “drive” of The Cure songs, Hewson says: “I wanted to make something that was driving like that.”

Then, with the keyboard hook, the guitar melody was born. “And then all of a sudden, you have a Cure song,” Hewson laughs. “But X-Ray was also like a country rip off on an acoustic guitar, and then it morphed into some sort of weird The Cure / Interpol thing... It’s like Frankenstein. When we started playing it as a band, it really found its place. But I think it was inspired by listening to a lot of country music and a lot of Bob Dylan’s stuff.”

Mentioning country music legend Glen Campbell and up-and-coming Irish indie/country star CMAT as influences, Hewson quips, “We listen to a lot of different stuff. Honestly, it’s quite scary sometimes!”

While there are still arguments about “selling out” in punk, rock, and metal circles, Inhaler haven’t been followed by the same judgments, despite teaming up with a big-shot producer on Open Wide. And, the band doesn’t believe “selling out” is a thing that exists in this day and age.

For their new album, they recruited British songwriter and producer Kid Harpoon, whose songwriting and production credits include work with artists such as Harry Styles, Miley Cyrus, Florence + The Machine, and Shawn Mendes.

“No matter what producer you work with, it doesn’t guarantee a number one hit across the world or worldwide domination, honestly,” Hewson says. “But that’s not why we worked with him [Harpoon].

“We worked with him because I love all the drum sounds on Harry Styles’ records and the Peter Gabriel influence, Kings Of Leon’s last album… he’s so fucking—excuse me for swearing—he's a really nice guy. He was around in the early 2000s [of] UK [indie rock], and he just understood us, and it was the perfect thing. But I wish there was a button for selling out, because, my God, I would press it!”

McMahon: “Yeah, give us that big song, please.”

Hewson: “We’re trying our best!”

“Something about him that we really loved was that he’s so into albums,” McMahon adds. “He’s worked with these artists who have recently had these, like, massive chart-topping songs (like Miley’s Flowers and Harry’s As It Was), but he’s not the guy who’s chasing that silver bullet song.

“When we were recording with him, he was as invested in each song as he was in the other, and it felt like he was putting so much care and time into helping us make the record that we wanted to make. And his taste in music is just as wide-ranging and varied as ours, you know, he would mention Glen Campbell and Deftones in the same sentence when trying to figure out what to do with a certain song, and I think that’s something that we really resonated with.

“Also, he just made us laugh. You know, every single day in the studio was like an episode of South Park or something. You know, we were just laughing a lot.”

Of course, it’s impossible to chat with Inhaler and not mention the incredible music coming out of Ireland. Whether it’s the expansive, unusual rock of Fontaines D.C. or the post-punk of bands like The Murder Capital and NERVES, the world-dominating hip-hop of Kneecap, or the country-inspired storytelling of CMAT, Inhaler exist in a truly thrilling time for Irish music. And it’s rubbing off on them.

Hewson says, “It’s like our teenage wet dream, all this stuff, because when we were teenagers, people only listened to, like, Ed Sheeran or Iggy Azalea, you know? And we were like, ‘Imagine there was a scene [with] the grandeur of Seattle in the 90s?’ And then all of a sudden, there is, and there’s so much great talent coming out of Ireland.

“It makes you feel really proud to be Irish, actually. I don’t know what’s happening over there, but yeah, something’s happening. We need to go back and catch a bit of that.”

McMahon concurs, “And it’s not even just music, you know? It’s film, as well. Among the arts, Ireland has always been incredibly strong, but I definitely think the limelight was taken off it for a little while, and it’s nice to see that people are recognising it for how strong it is in that sector. It is just inspiring. You know, all across Ireland, in different parts, there’s great bands coming out, and it’s great to see that there’s bands coming back into people’s lives again.”

Hewson: “I’m obsessed with Paul Mescal. Obsessed, I tell you.”

McMahon: “Oh, he’s so handsome, dream boy.”

Inhaler bring their Open Wide tour to Australia this month. You can find tickets via the Live Nation website.