Polaris' 'The Mortal Coil' Has Exceeded All Expectations

Polaris

Having only been together for a relatively brief five to six years, and currently on their debut album cycle, Sydney metalcore prodigies Polaris are about to face one of the first true tests of a band; a list of tour dates stretching off as far as the eye can see. They have dates taking them up to late November at this stage, with a regional run across their homeland before heading to North America with Parkway Drive, among others, and then Asia — reaching both continents for the very first time in their career.

Guitar player Rick Schneider is experiencing a touch of trepidation, of course, but also lashings of excitement about taking one giant leap into the big time.

"It's crazy," he admits. "We announced that Parkway tour, which starts at the end of August, and all the people were freaking out about that. But all the while we knew we were heading out on another tour just beforehand. Everyone was like, 'Wow, you're going to be in America for three to four weeks!', and we were thinking to ourselves, 'Yeah, but it's actually going to be closer to seven or eight.'

"It's definitely daunting, the first time we went to Europe it was like, 'Wow, 21 days in a row!' It seemed like a huge test, but now we look at this American thing and it's even bigger."

The contrast between touring Australia and places like Europe and North America is not lost on him. "Growing up as an Australian band, you don't really get thrown into the deep end too much with playing 30 shows a year. In America you do that on one tour," he laughs.

Schneider feels they are about as prepared for their first fun-but-gruelling tour of this nature as they can be, in a mental and physical sense. "I suppose you just try to get as many things done in advance as possible," he states. "You look at the transport and accommodation, the crew and all that. But I suppose mentally, there's only so much you can do to prepare yourself because you really don't know what you're in for. You just try to go in with a positive mindset and try to keep everyone on the same page."

The band had a slow but steady rise earlier in their career, with the release of two EPs in 2013 and 2016. However, the increase in profile, notoriety and demand for Polaris since their album came out in November 2017 has been nothing short of meteoric — in an Australian heavy music sense anyway.

Schneider remains humble and grounded about the upswing in their fortunes. "With our first EP, we barely got out of Sydney," he recalls, "then we put out our second EP in 2016 and that sort of opened us up to the wider Australian heavy scene. With the album, with all the triple j love and all the support we've got, it's been pretty crazy. We've grown up watching all these bands with their debut albums, and what they accomplished, and this has exceeded our expectations in every way so far.

"I suppose to keep a lid on it all we just need to stay focused and take each day as it comes."

While it's only been seven to eight months since the debut came out, the band are already dipping their toes in the water, albeit tentatively, as far as crafting a follow-up to The Mortal Coil is concerned. Schneider believes they will crack into it in a bigger way once their heavy touring schedule lightens a little later in the year.

"We're just starting to kick into it," he says. "At the start of the year we were all starting to think about it but nobody was really ready to jump into it because the European tour was about to come up and we weren't ready to even think about it let alone write for it. Now we're back from Europe, we've had this past month to think about and we have started to kick into it, but once we get back from America, from there through Christmas will really be the time to start nailing it down."