Polaris are Australia’s best kept secret

From the moment Polaris stepped on stage at 2017’s Unify Gathering, everyone knew they were about to shake up Australia’s heavy scene. Performing to a few thousand adoring fans while braving the adverse weather conditions, Polaris, who at that point were unsigned, proved they were the fresh new faces of metalcore. The crowd reception was immense and was quite obviously noticed by the event organisers, who again booked Polaris for a much larger set time at the recent 2018 Unify Gathering.
According to the groups founding member, bass player and clean vocalist Jake Steinhauser, Unify was a real defining moment in their career.
“Last years’ [2017] Unify would easily have to be the best and biggest show that we have played in our career so far,” he recollects. “I feel Unify number two for us is going to be the next biggest show we have ever played. It’s kind of weird preparing for that,” he chuckles, “I mean all you can really do in the lead up to this kind of situation is to practise as much as possible… so that’s what we have been doing.”
Although with that being said, not much practise is needed for Polaris, who spent a vast majority of last year touring extensively. As well as touring, they also found the time to record their incredible debut album The Mortal Coil which was released through Resist Records.
“It was a very busy year and overwhelming in some ways,” Steinhauser remarks, before expanding on the process of recording, which found the guys renting a house along the coast of New South Wales for a few months of seclusion.
“We were staying about three hours from any of our houses so we weren’t returning home a whole lot,” he says. “I think being away allowed us to get them done a lot quicker than we normally would because we would get really stuck into it, even in the nights between recording. It was very different experience but it was something that we all enjoyed – it was sad to leave the house when we were done with it.”
Working alongside Grammy nominated producers such as Carson Slovak and Grant McFarland, Steinhauser spoke of the bands’ main ambition for this record, which was to create the best album that they possibly could.
“It’s a hard thing; writing 11 or so tracks when you’ve only done releases of about six songs, he explains,” So for us we were trying to learn if we could write an album. We have never had to write that much music so it was pretty strenuous at times, especially making sure it was different or that it wasn’t too repetitive.”
Expanding on the direction of their debut and the current climate of Australia’s Metalcore scene, Steinhauser continues, “For us, having both a clean and heavy vocalist was always more so us trying to incorporate more instruments. In terms of intentionally not sounding like other acts, I don’t feel like we have overly thought about it, but we do want to put a bit more thought into it in the future. There are a lot of bands who seemingly make their sound out of the two vocalists so it’s important to differentiate yourself in the scene,” he says.
“I think for us we were worried about a lot of different things, but it was mainly because we all wanted to make a good impression with our first album.”
Release: The Mortal Coil is out now through Resist Records.
When & Where: Arrow on Swanston, Melbourne – April 20 & Corner Hotel, Melbourne – April 21. Tickets available via www.oztix.com.au.

Written by Alex Callan

Image by Daniel Anderson