Viral Manchester trio THE HARA have unveiled their biggest milestone to date, their gargantuan debut album ‘Survival Mode’ – listen here.
A collection of twelve tracks produced by Jason Perry (Don Broco, McFly), the three piece take you on an exhilarating journey showcasing some of their highest highs and lowest lows, on a body of work which evidences the band at their most thoughtful and introspective as well as their most fun and feverish.
It comes after the conclusion of their video game-themed series of visuals for singles featured on the record, and follows the concept that THE HARA have been pulled into a mysterious video game that pushes the band to their limits, they have to battle their inner demons as they struggle to rise above everything that this crazy, colourful world can throw at them in order to make it back to reality. You can watch the series in full here.
Elaborating on this the band say, “From the moment we decided to write our debut album we knew we wanted it to be a concept album. Our ethos is expression and we knew this would better reflect who we are and our ambitions as a band. We wanted our songs to be interlinking – with some even finishing on a certain note then the following song starting on the same note – creating a genuine sense of continuity within our universe; and we wanted our music videos to reflect that too.”
To celebrate the release of ‘Survival Mode’ THE HARA will visit Sheffield, Glasgow, Newcastle, Bristol, London, Birmingham and their hometown Manchester on a string of headline dates beginning this evening – please get in touch for any guest list enquiries.
Following on from singles like ‘ROCKSTAR’ which interrogates the perception of the rockstar lifestyle and ‘Talk To The Manager’ which tackles fakery within the music industry and navigating the notoriously difficult landscape starting out, these early album teasers were a good indication of why the band have won over so many new fans at their epic live shows and received extensive support from BBC Radio 1‘s Nels Hylton and Alyx Holcombe.
THE HARA have taken the UK by storm in the past 12 months with major UK festival performances at Reading & Leeds Festivals (Main Stage), Download and Tramlines. Gemma Bradley gave the band their break at BBC Radio 1, whilst they have already been playlisted on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and Deezer as their ‘genre fluid’ sound sees them continue to break new ground sonically. This hybrid of sounds has also warranted them to be featured across airwaves and column inches, with notable acclaim from BBC Introducing, Kerrang!, Dork, Amazing Radio and Manchester Evening News. Following the release of ‘ROCKSTAR’ the trio also headed out on the road with Sueco supporting him on his European tour.
And it all boils down to the hard-working and focussed ethos that has tied the band and their journey together since they started making music. Explaining the band’s mantra, frontman Josh Taylor says, “We want to show everyone that despite it all, despite what the statistics say, despite what people say or any of that social media acceptance bullsh*t, it really doesn’t matter. Thousands of people will reject you for being different but there are 10 times over that amount who will accept you and who are feeling just like you. If people can become a part of such a glorious resistance through our music, then that’s our mission.”
‘Survival Mode’ Tracklist
1. Autobiography
2. Rockstar
3. Died In My Twenties
4. Circles
5. Play My Game
6. Talk To The Manager
7. Faking It
8. Fix Me Again
9. Fire
10. Okay That’s Me
11. Jesus
12. Off This Train
Live Dates
7th April – O2 Academy 2, Sheffield
8th April – Cathouse, Glasgow
9th April – The Cluny, Newcastle
12th April – The Fleece, Bristol
13th April – The Garage, London
14th April – O2 Academy 2, Birmingham
15th April – Academy 2, Manchester
25th April – Dynamo Basement, Eindhoven
26th April – Headcrash, Hamburg
27th April – Cassiopeia, Berlin
28th April – Cafe v Lese, Prague
30th April – Strom, Munich
1st May – MTC Club, Cologne
