Adelaide’s fave indie-punk duo, The Hard Aches (Ben David and Alex Upton) release their sophomore album, Mess on April 13 via Anchorhead.
The duo teamed up with Melbourne producer Sam Johnson at this studio Holes & Corners, having admired his work over the last few years on records with Camp Cope, The Smith Street Band, and The Bennies. After 3 long weeks and many late nights, the team had crafted 12 new tracks. Following some deliberation, the reigns were handed to grammy award winning engineer William Bowden, who imparted his mastering expertise on the record. Mess features guest vocal parts from Camp Cope’s Georgia Maq, The Bennies’ Craig Selak, and Long Island’s own Jeff Rosenstock, who happened to be in the country for Melbourne’s yearly punk rock festival, the Poison City Weekender.
In April, The Hard Aches will be back on road to support Mess on a national album tour playing their biggest venues to date. They’ll be supported on all dates by the Blue Mountain’s best punk band, Antonia and the Lazy Susans and old friends Sincerely, Grizzly.
Ahead of the album release and tour The Hard Aches’ Ben David sat down with Australian Musician’s Greg Phillips for an in-depth chat about Mess.
MESS ALBUM TOUR
WITH SPECIAL GUESTS
ANTONIA AND THE LAZY SUSANS + SINCERELY, GRIZZLY
FRIDAY 13 APRIL – CORNER HOTEL, MELBOURNE
SATURDAY 14 APRIL – THE GOV, ADELAIDE
WEDNESDAY 18 APRIL – TRANSIT BAR, CANBERRA
THURSDAY 19 APRIL – THE CAMBRIDGE, NEWCASTLE
FRIDAY 20 APRIL – OXFORD ARTS FACTORY, SYDNEY
SATURDAY 21 APRIL – THE ZOO, BRISBANE
TUESDAY 24 APRIL – JACK RABBIT SLIMS, PERTH