Life Lessons With Miles Away

Perth hardcore legends Miles Away are as tight as ever with their new record, Tides, but in the time since they dropped 2010’s Endless Roads and now, they’ve undergone a massive transformation in terms of dynamics and relationships. “It’s been a good five years since the last album, so we’ve all kind of been all over the place just doing our own thing,” frontman Horsnell begins, ducking out of work for a quick chat. It’s been a while between records, but spending precious lunch minutes focusing on band promo is a promising sign the passion’s still there.

The past five years has seen Horsnell get married and buy a house, guitarist Adam Crowe move to Berlin and guitarist Cam Jose get a PhD and take up lecturing at university. “I guess our outlook on life in general has changed a little bit. We never started out to do [Miles Away] as a career or make money from it. It was always just a passion and just something we loved doing – and we still have that passion, it’s just we can’t give as much time as we used to – but when we do do it, it feels really good.

“There’s times when you’re in a band when you get a bit, not down, but you get a bit over it. Like you’re far away from home and like, ‘What am I doing here?’ To have that break and then come back, we’re really excited to play and write new music together; it’s really a refreshing feeling.”

"We still have that passion, it’s just we can’t give as much time as we used to – but when we do do it, it feels really good."

Recorded in the hardcore capital of the world, Boston, with renowned producer Jay Maas, Tide also sees Defeater drummer Andy Reitz behind the kit, with guest spots from Zach Jordan (Bane), Jamie Hay (A Death In The Family) and more. “When we were thinking about people we wanted to contribute to the album, it wasn’t like, ‘We want this guy ‘cause he’s the coolest thing right now; he’s the most influential guy right now,’ it’s just like, we really get along with that person and we love what they do and they’re kind of on the same wavelength as us so they can bring more to this album. It’s a reflection of people we’ve met doing this band and how lucky we are to have met those people as well.”

Sonically, Tide follows strongly from Endless Roads – with hints of the band’s earlier material. When it comes to lyrics, at 35, Horsnell has taken a step back and assessed exactly what the band means to him at this stage. “I guess we grew up in the band and we’ve learnt a lot of life lessons through Miles Away. We were growing up through our twenties and then early thirties overseas and met a lot of our friends and now partners and really changed the direction of our lives, and the course of our lives. And music was a huge part of that, and I’m very, very grateful for that.”