Melbourne metalcore outfit Windwaker are back with new music after a lineup change and some big tours recently. The beloved five-piece shared their latest single “Left in the Dark” on 11 November, the first to feature returned member and newly appointed vocalist Liam Guinane and synth maestro Connor Robins.
In support of this, Windwaker have announced the Love in the Dark tour with Caskets and alt. this July which will see them play Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane, Newcastle and Sydney. The tour will feature Love Language favourites – including some live debuts – and unreleased material to go with the title song. You can get your tickets HERE.
We caught up with Liam to chat about the single, tour and more.
“For the longest time between 2017 and 2019, I was doing both bands (Windwaker and Reside) which was a lot, especially at the stage that Windwaker were at the time. We got to a sort of crossroads where there were conflicting schedules and being in both bands was going to be a detriment to both bands, so I had to make a choice. And Reside, being the band I sort of started, felt like the logical choice at the time.
I got the call I think around July or August asking if I wanted to audition. I thought it would be a good challenge and the chemistry still worked, we’re good friends so it just felt like an obvious fit to come back.”
Former vocalist Will King left big shoes to fill, but if anyone can do it, it’s Liam. Dive into Reside’s catalogue and you’ll see that the new frontman is more than capable. “Left in the Dark” is the first taste of Liam on vocals for Windwaker and, honestly, we can’t wait for more.
“That was a song we sort of finished out of pure necessity because with that lineup change, we felt like we had to back it up with something. The longer left with no music, I think the more questions would have come up. The main goal of that song was to reassure fans that they were in safe hands.
“It’s obviously a lot simpler, musically, than a lot of other Windwaker songs which sort of gave us the spotlight to say ‘This is Liam and this is what he can do’. We had the Shikari and Northlane tour coming up, so it was good to have something new there I could call my own as opposed to Windwaker karaoke with Liam.”
With a passionately loyal fanbase built on relatable lyrics and meme posts, we asked how the new single has been received for what could have been an intimidating release. Perhaps working in his favour, Liam has always had something to do with the band from the very beginning right through to Love Language.
“Surprisingly positive. I don’t think there’s ever really been a band that’s come out unscathed from a frontman changeover. But we’ve been so grateful from the response we’ve gotten, and my hand is in every project to some degree.”
The Love in the Dark tour will be bringing along UK alt-rock act Caskets for their live debut in Australia as well as Adelaide favourites alt., who recently supported Don Broco on their East Coast tour.
“We’re super stoked that we managed to get them onboard and we think they’re a really good fit for the bill we had in mind. alt. are incredibly talented and they’re kind of old homies of ours, we’ve played with them since their old iteration of the band years ago.”
The national headline run will also include stops at the oft-forgotten Perth and local export factory Newcastle.
“I think it’s the first time that I’ll ever have performed in Perth. Some of my favourite bands come from there, like Vacant Home, Karnivool and Gyroscope. There’s good quality bands over there but they don’t seem to make it to the East Coast.”
So, does he have a favourite place to play, or somewhere he is most excited to visit?
“There’s a bias to playing Max Watt’s in Melbourne. Obviously, it’s a hometown show, but I’ve never gotten to play that stage and I’ve gone to watch so many bands there growing up. I always like going to Brisbane and Newy, I don’t really have a favourite – it’s like choosing favourite children.”
The band have already stated on their socials that the set will include old favourites and live debuts (yes, that means “Trenches”) along with the new single. Apparently, the set was originally an hour and a half long, but they decided to cull some tracks to preserve Liam’s voice – a wise choice when playing three shows back-to-back between travel.
“I think it’s a good representation of where we’re at as a band. We’ve put a lot of time into the production side of things, we’re trying to make a really good show for people. I think this tour is an opportunity for us to play some of the songs from Love Language that we haven’t played before and may not play again.
When we originally booked this tour, we planned to play the album from front to back. Now we’ve got one song from Empire, most of Love Language and a couple cheeky new ones. It’s been really challenging for me because these are new vocal techniques and I’m really keen to put my own spin on it and hopefully do some justice.”
There are some clear fan-favourites when you look at the most streamed songs, but what’s the new frontman’s go-to?
“Lately, it’s been Me + You. I had a lot of fun on last year’s tour playing that song because you can get kind of schmoozy with it, it’s quite a sexy song. My background and the things that I like are very hip hop centric. With that in mind, I do love getting the opportunity to incorporate that with songs like Dopamine Freestyle and Superstitious Fantasy.”
Of course, we had to ask if he’s played the latest Zelda game, where the band presumably got their name from. He also managed to squeeze in a cheeky plug that we can totally get behind.
“I haven’t yet, however (guitarist) Jesse has got it and has been nonstop talking about it. I’ve heard really good things. If you want a Switch, we’re giving one away!”
Enter the competition to win a Zelda-branded Nintendo Switch console with The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom HERE!
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