Australian Guitar x Full Tilt 2022: In Hearts Wake

After what feels like no less than a decade of delays, the inaugural Full Tilt festival will make its debut in Brisbane on Saturday, April 23rd. 

In the meantime, Australian Guitar is catching up with some of the legendary shredders set to tear it up at the show. In this edition, we chat to Ben Nairne and Eaven Dall of In Hearts Wake.

What can the legion of moshlords out there expect to see when you take the stage at Full Tilt? Is there anything in particular you’re looking forward to whipping out?
High energy and massive smiles! It’s been way too long since we last got to perform so we’re all itching with excitement. We’ll be playing our new song Dogma which is a fun sort of nod to our roots musically, so bring your best barks, howls and zoomies!

You’re obviously sharing the Full Tilt lineup with some fucking killer acts. Who’s set are you personally most keen to see, and why?
It’s tough to just name one but I’m looking forward to seeing Alpha Wolf and Thornhill. Both of those bands have a very bright future ahead of them and I’m keen to watch them crush it at Full Tilt. I’ve also been hearing a lot of Slowly Slowly and Yours Truly on the radio of late and found it hard not to bop along so I'll be making an effort to catch them as well.

What does your live rig look like at the moment?
Honestly, over the years we’ve simplified things a lot. To the point where we’re both just running a Kemper Stage live now. I do miss using some of my beloved pedals but the convenience factor for touring and the consistency from stage to stage has been a game changer. Although, as we (guitarists) all know, a rig/pedalboard is never complete. It’s a forever evolving.

What would you say is the cornerstone of your live sound?
As far as live sounds goes I don’t think there’s anything in particular that sets us apart, we have just always tried to play a super tight live set. We really like to have fun when we’re playing live by interacting with each other and the crowd, and not taking ourselves too seriously which I think gives some originality to our performance. 

What makes your festival set a unique experience when compared to a standard venue set?
We really enjoy playing smaller venues because it’s much easier to interact with the crowd and get them involved with the show. Festival sets are a little different because sometimes the crowd is pretty far away so we like to take that energy and use it to run around and make the most of the bigger stages. 

What are your festival essentials, and why should everybody have them?
I’d say a refillable water bottle is definitely essential, especially for Australian summer festivals where it gets so hot and you’re in the sun all day. It’s also better for the environment so you’re not wasting plastic bottles every time you buy a drink. I think there’s a few festivals that are now only using re-usable cups which is great to see. Sunscreen would definitely have to be another one. I’ve seen so many people at festivals walking around looking so cooked and it just looks like a bad time. Slip, slop, slap! 

What’s your favourite festival memory of all time?
As a performer my favourite festival memory would have to be Unify 2019. The crowd was absolutely insane that night and we couldn’t keep the smiles off our faces. We were still running off that energy when we finished and got to watch Karnivool straight after we played just to top it off. 

Click here to grab tickets for the first-ever Full Tilt in Brisbane