The Hara
The Asylum // Birmingham, England // 21 September, 2019
Photos and review by Sophie Jones
The Hara are a three-piece band hailing from Manchester, England; they’re made up of Josh Taylor (vocalist), Zack Breen (lead guitar) and Jack Kennedy (drums). The trio formed after Josh and Zack met online and found out they shared a love of music and a passion for performing live. After hitting it off from the get go, they announced themselves as a band in 2017.
Their previous tour Unconscious Minds Innocently Blind (#UMIBtour) saw them travelling across the UK and Ireland, selling out some of their biggest shows yet in Manchester, Newcastle, Glasgow and London.
Now it’s time for a new sound, it’s time for a new era; it’s all about Tramp Brain. Tramp Brain is their newly released EP, which came out on September 12th. Just a week prior to the EP’s release, the band released a music video for the title track which entered the iTunes Rock Chart at number three shortly after its debut. This is all just the beginning as they now set out on their first Tramp Brain headlining tour, visiting Glasgow, Newcastle, Birmingham and Manchester.
Last week, The Hara performed at Birmingham’s Asylum venue and fans all lined up early to make sure they secured a good spot inside, some of them even beginning to queue before 10am.
When it was time for the show to start, the lights went down and smoke filtered across the stage as the “TH” logo lit up at the center. Soon, Jack emerged onto the stage followed shortly by Zack as the entire crowd erupted into shrills of excitement. As the room waited in anticipation for Josh to appear from behind the curtain, loud screams could be heard from the crowd as everyone turned around and found Josh stood on the bar just as the show kicked in. Josh made his way from the bar across a thin ledge against the wall and quickly joined Zack and Jack on stage.
The atmosphere and energy was high from the start, everyone singing and jumping along and fully immersing themselves in the show which is what the band want their shows to be about – to allow fans to go crazy and that their concerts are a safe place to do so (a concept the new track “Tramp Brain” is actually about). As the main concept for the track’s music video, the band uses the song itself as a drug which people get mesmerised by, and like them, they get rid of their old selves and become completely vulnerable to who they actually are. In some cases, it even brings out a more mental side to them which is what The Hara want their live shows to mirror.
The set contained fan favourites like “Be Somebody” and “Kamikaze Camouflage” along with new tracks off of the EP including “Dirty Little Monster” which took the crowd’s energy even higher, causing some mini mosh pits to break out during the performance. It definitely was a moment in The Hara’s set that showed just how much of an anthem the track is, sharing the same essence as the rest of the EP by showing that we are all outsiders, weirodoes and different from one another.
Overall, “Dirty Little Monster” embodies that it doesn’t matter what other people think of you – do whatever you want you, don’t follow your friends and don’t sit in bed and get lost in the fake world of the Internet. Be yourself, be bold, make enemies, make mistakes and find the people who love the person you’ve been hiding for so long.
So now, the question is who’s going to be a “Dirty Little Monster?” Who’s going to be attending the next The Hara show to allow themselves to be just who they are, go crazy and be free!?
You can catch The Hara at their next show on November 17th in Guildford with more dates been announcing via their socials.
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