Polaris are currently one of the most talked about bands in the Metalcore scene. Following the release of the band’s 2023 album Fatalism, their star has continued to rise. We caught up with guitarist Rick Schneider to discuss the success of Fatalism, how its connected with people and the growing support behind the band, we also talk about what’s next, being a part of the Australian scene and lots more in our chat from Download Festival.
Seeing the response to Fatalism, the fact you are still on tour 2 years later, you have just played Knotfest in Australia, as well as a run of European Festivals. So as a band how has it been for you seeing the reception to Fatalism, and how this thing has grown over the last 2 years into these huge festival appearances and the continued support behind the album that is showing no signs of slowing down.
It kind of boggles the mind, because you expect new music is going to be the next jumping point, but we have felt this slow and steady growth with all of our records and it’s continued into Fatalism now where we’re 2 years on from release and we still feel like it’s growing and building with people. Just this morning I looked at Spotify for Artists and noticed Dissipate has taken over Remedy, finally Remedy isn’t the top song any more. To put it into a festival perspective, it’s an experience we can’t get at home, it’s an experience we can’t get on tour to play out in these giant open air environments and to have all these people in front of you, it’s cool, that slow and steady growth is only amplified at a festival where you playing for people that don’t know you already, it’s sick.
As you touched upon, when you play a festival, there are so many people there that don’t know you. So how do you judge how well a festival performance has gone? Do you judge it by how you feel when you walk offstage or by how the audience is reacting to it when you guys are playing?
It’s kind of easy when everyone is going mental, then it’s a ripper show. For example the first festival we did, we started this run doing a show with A Day To Remember in Zurich and that was a little bit tame, but the Swiss can be a little bit tame, but that’s fine, no hate there (laughs) but then we played Mystic Fest in Poland and that was a bit of a slow start and feeling people coming in, drawing in and everyone was kind of stood still watching at the start, but then by the end everyone was nodding their heads and nodding in unison and some more people were going mental in the middle and that’s the kind of thing where came in with no many people knowing us and we were ready to go, by the end of it we had people actually engaged and having a good time, when you see that change it is one of the most satisfying things, because it’s not like people came out and weren’t stoked with what they heard, no people came out not knowing what to expect and left happy, so that’s a nice one.
It’s also that proper organic growth like you said. It’s like you guys are posting ads on facebook or signposting people to your music. This is born from people taking a chance on something, seeing you live and discovering what you are about in real time. I think there is such a beauty in live music and coming across bands that way. I have gotten into so many bands that way and I’m sure you’re the same. There’s a real magic to just walking into a tent and not knowing what to expect from a band until they start playing.
It kind of reshapes what a band is in your head,for so much of it you get bogged down in the musicality and the production side of it, a live performance is such an important part of a band and when you see a band that really blows you away it is a band that sticks in your head so much more than you’re favourite record of the year might, so it’s cool to be putting on the best show that you can and hopefully give that kind of impression that people walk away with.
Fatalism is a great record. What do you think it is about this particular album that has resonated with people and continues to do so? Usually are 2 or 3 years of an album both the band and the fans are usually thinking about what the next thing is, but it doesn’t seem like the case with this one, it feels like people want to continue living with this album for a little while longer, so what do you think it is about this one that has touched people so much?
I’m not sure, everyone of our records comes from a time and a place, and that record came from a lot of angst and aggression and being not quite stoked with how the world was on track and usually we approach a lot of our records from an internal place and spoken from the heart and this one had elements of that, but while also providing a broader view, some of those things are resonating harder with the way things are going in the world and obviously we don’t want to get bogged down by that, but it does have a lot of themes that carry forward from 2 years ago to now, the same goes for our older records, but i think our work process is once we’re happy then it’s good enough to go out to the public and we can have them listen to it, but that process can be such an arduous task that can take so many months and years that you hope once you get to the end of that people are still resonating with it a year later, people that haven’t heard it or people that are still listening to it. Our Vetting process allows it to stand the test of time, so far with our records it’s gone alright.
My wife recently started getting into some bands that play similar music to you guys and I put Nightmare on a playlist that I made for her and she loved it, and it made her want to go back and listen to some of your older music. I think that’s a really cool thing about getting to share music you love with other people and especially in this day and age where record sales and perhaps merch sales aren’t what they used to be, having that word of mouth element to music must be so gratifying for you, when you play your own shows or speak to people hearing that they heard your music through someone else and now they are seeing you at a festival or a headline show.
It is, and thank you for your kind words. That is an element of it as well, when we do write, it’s very rare that we want to forget the past and focus on the future, it’s about building upon what we’ve done and what we’re recording for people on a new record fully encourages them to listen to what we’ve done before and while it’s in the same vein, we try to avoid crossover but like we have it in the same world, you can listen to Parasites and go well that’s got a bit of Hypermania in it, but you lay any of the parts together and it doesn’t quite work, yeah there are similarities but we’re always trying to bring something new to the table to give people more to listen to when they dig back or more to be excited for in future.
I’m sure you have been asked this before, but what is it about Australia and heavy music? So many great heavy bands have broken through, especially in the last decade or so, Parkway Drive, Thornhill, Thy Art Is Murder, Make Them Suffer, Northlane, you guys. So what is it about Australia and the scene there that breeds such good heavy music?
I think when you look globally there is just as much representation if not more from places other than Australia, but I think Australia is similar to us as a band in a writing sense, there is such a vetting process to get a band to an international stage from Australia, as soon as band gets put on that pedestal and shown to the world they are at a point that is far and above what you’d expect, for us we finally got put onto an international stage and headlined 6, 7, 8 years after we started, if they were hearing us 5 years prior they would probably be like “Yeah, whatever…” not to discredit any of those bands because they all have incredible careers now, but going back and listening to Northlane early days to what you’re getting now it is quite a different band, it’s cool seeing them play some of those older songs in their live set now. I think the Australian community once they fully do champion a band and push them to a point where they get internationally recognised it’s for a reason, they have got their chops, they can play live, they have good records, everything falls in line before that band can finally hit that international stage and make their mark and it’s cool to see from Australia, we had bands like Parkway and Amity Affliction in the early days, then Northlane came along, then as you say Thy Art Is Murder and ourselves, and now we’re seeing new waves of bands coming through and it’s exciting to see that is still tracking and people still have that opinion.
Even internally with the community of bands you have. There are posters all around the site with Parkway Drive doing arena shows in the UK with Thy Art Is Murder & Amity Affliction on an all Australian bill. There is a sense there that bands are helping each other and raising each other up, when they get to a certain level, they can start bringing their friends along and helping that community grow. I think that is such a beautiful thing that there is no competition, no one is trying to take each other’s spot, it’s just people helping each other be the best they can be and that’s really rare in this industry.
I said it to someone the other day, there is no competition, it’s community. If you are bringing other people up then who knows when you are down and out, and someone might be lending you a hand the same way, you can’t look at it any other way than being a community of bands that should be friends and should be peers and should inspire each other to keep going, as you say once it comes down to touring, you want that diversity, you want that comradery, because you really feel the difference when it’s a tour of tight knit guys that are all working together versus one where this band is coming on and they have nothing to do with the next band, and you feel the different in everything, the presence and the mentality of it all.
In closing, I know it’s been a hectic couple of years for you, but is there a moment where you have managed to stop and take all of this one and think about how this has all happened? And what can the fans expect next from Polaris?
I guess we have had a bit of time to do that, but it’s always short-lived, you spend a month resting on your laurels, and you realise you have to get back to it, so there are moments to take a breath and calibrate where you are, but at the same time we’re back into writing now, so next year we want to put out new music, maybe at the turn of 2026, the start of the new year we might look to get the new music out, but in mid to late 2026 we will definitely have a new record out i’d say and then we’ll pressing on like we always do, trying to get festivals, trying to get shows, trying to come over for headliners, if anyone likes coming to see us live we will definitely be coming to any and all places on the next record, it’s exciting to look at that global approach now, we want to play Europe of course, we want to play the UK of course, but now we let’s go to Latin America, let’s go to Japan, let’s see how far we can push it, just the same with music, don’t rest on your laurels, it’s the same approach to our touring, we want to make sure we’re playing to as many people as we can and make this next record an exciting step for everyone including ourselves .
For more information on Polaris head here
