So there's this band. They're signed to Rise Records, an American post-hardcore label so ubiquitous there's a whole genre named for it – "risecore". Their last album, Unimagine, debuted at No. 37 on the Billboard Top 200 chart and was followed with massive acclaim. Their singles regularly attract more than 1 million views on YouTube, they've appeared on the Vans Warped Tour twice and with the release of their new album, are set to embark on their first worldwide tour.
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Oh, and did I mention they're from Canberra?
Hands Like Houses will be appearing at Transit Bar this weekend as part of a world tour across Australia, the United States and Britain. It's an opportunity for the band to showcase material from their new album, Dissonants, recorded in St Cloud, Florida, with acclaimed producer James Paul Wisner, whose alumni include Underoath, Paramore and The Getaway Plan.
"We've tried to take the best of what we did on Unimagine and combine it with what people liked about our first album, Ground Dweller, and then be aware of what we want to achieve from the album and what our peers are doing and combine it all," guitarist Alex Pearson says of the new release.
"I would say it's got a bit of a darker, more aggressive vibe to it. Obviously we've been touring for a long time and experienced frustrations on the road and just generally in life as well, and some of that has dictated the music.
"We're not an angry band, it will probably still be mellow in the grand scheme of things but as far as our music goes we've definitely added a bit of an edge to it."
Hands Like Houses formed in 2008 from the remnants of local bands So Long Safety and Eternal Debut. The band signed with Rise Records in January 2012 and released their debut Ground Dweller a month later. The album charted at No.141 on the Billboard Top 200 and No. 2 on the Billboard Heatseekers Chart, an impressive feat for such a young band. Their second album, Unimagine, was released a year later to even greater success.
As to how the band managed to achieve so much so early, Pearson says: "We just sat in our friend's garage, wrote a whole lot of songs, spent a whole lot of money and took a gamble on going over and recording in a studio in America [Chango Studios – synonymous with the Risecore sound]. That sparked interest and it basically all just snowballed from there. We got some management and they reached out to Rise and it all fell into place.
"Looking back at it now it doesn't seem like too challenging a task, it was fun and it just kinda came about. It's more the work that's been put in since then that's a challenge compared to that original step."
Between touring and recording, Hands Like Houses have spent just 2½ months in Canberra this year. Which begs the question, why does the band continue to base itself in Canberra when its label and market are in America?
"Aside from the fact that all our families and friends are here, we like having the image of an Australian band as the core of who we are," Pearson says. "We like being able to come back and build on what we have in Australia. A lot of bands that go overseas forget about Australia but we want to put the time and effort into building an Australian fanbase."
Hands Like Houses
When: Sunday, October 18, at 8pm
Where: ANU Bar
Tickets: $34.70 from oztix.com.au
