It is testament to the recent resurgence of live music in Cairns that bands from as far away as Western Australia are including us on their tour schedule.

Hard rock outfit Hailmary are the latest of Australia’s emerging bands to stop here, and make no mistake, these guys will be on the lips  and ears of music lovers for years to come. Although geographically apart from the majority of the music epicentre, vocalist/guitarist Kevin Curran believes the challenges of succeeding from so far away are eased somewhat by a bands determination and will to succeed. “It’s definately alot more financially challenging to do what we do and come over as much as we have been,” he said. “When you live closer to the action you can usually drive from gig to gig in a matter of hours so it is more challenging in that you have to sacrifice more coin to do what we want to do but it hasn’t stopped us having a go anyway!”

Since forming in 2006, Hailmary have released three E.P’s and one full length album, with their show in Cairns this Friday night at the Railway Hotel part of their ‘Navigate the Sunrise’ tour.

When it comes to the whole routine of writing, recording, touring and starting all over again, Kevin has a new, slightly left of centre idea in mind for Hailmary. One that will not only keep the band fresh and vibrant, but one that is also sure to keep fans of their music happy as well. “We actually went into the rehearsal room the other day to work on some new stuff,” he enthused. “We’re trying to get a new E.P – or should I say the second part – rolling. We want to do this one in two installments rather than the classic album formula. For us to do that and make another full length album would have taken us into next year by the time it was out but this way we do a little E.P and then get back out on the road and tour and get back in there and do the second half of the E.P and then get out and tour again so it allows us alot more opportunity to keep active and keep in the public eye. I think the old format, especially for bands that are up and coming and trying to get somewhere, doesn’t work with bands releasing a full album every three years. It just doesn’t seem to be warranted any more.”

It is true that in this day and age with new innovations coming on a daily basis that people’s attention spans aren’t what they used to be, and what is golden one day will quickly be forgotten if left too long unattended. “Exactly,” Kevin agreed. “That’s what we looked at when we were throwing ideas around. We were thinking that all of our hero bands make classic albums and stuff but for us to bite the bullet and say that maybe that format is dated now so let’s try a new format was a big step. We figured we would get our music out there sooner rather than writing and making a full album which takes so long. It’s only a theory at the moment but we are working on it.”
“In a way it’s like striking while the iron is still hot with our songs. Whereas when you do a full album some of the songs can be up to three years old sometimes but with what we are doing now we had fresh ideas and just went in and banged them out. It was like the songs evolved in the studio more rather than before where where we’d already been playing these songs live and already played them in the rehearsal room so we already KNEW what they were going to sound like whereas this one was a bit more of a surprise.”

Another thing important for a band is the ability to evolve and adapt, especially within themselves, and to listen to Hailmary’s releases and note the subtle changes and improvements you actually get a feel for where they are headed musically.

While ‘Yellow Light of Day’ remains one of their more popular songs and the only one thus far with a film clip, it is also a song not entirely typical of the bands sound but one that is definately shaping their future. “It’s a funny one that song actually,” Kevin explained, “because I had it in mind, and I’ve always loved metal, but originally that wasn’t meant to be a Hailmary song but we kinda grabbed it at rehearsal and ran with it and it turned out great! I think it shaped our sound as well as gave it a bit more of a harder edge and I think the new stuff we’re writing at the moment is definately in that vein so that one song has opened up alot of doors creativity wise and out of that I would say now i can bring any song to the table no matter what it is because I know it COULD work.

With a sound best described as dirty, ballsy hard rock with a grungy bottom end and sludgy stoner riffs, Hailmary are carving their own niche in Australian rock, and have set themselves goals to ensure they aren’t just another flash in the fire. “We’re definately going to be sitting down and planning out say the next two years as a band and what we want to achieve because I think if you don’t have a goal in your sights then you will never reach where you want to go,” Kevin said. “So we will just plan things out and tour and play new crowds as much as possible. That’s the major goal of this band is we want to spread the word I guess and keep playing to new audiences and new places. We will go and play anywhere!”

Hailmary play this Friday August 1 at the Railway Hotel with support from Sworf, Salacious, Meat Bikini and Violet Shift.
Doors open at 5.30, with first band on at 6 p.m. Entry is $8 on the door.

Kris Peters

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