HANDS LIKE HOUSES UNVEIL TROPO - VOLUME 1 LED BY FOURTH TRACK "PARADISE" FT. MATTHEW WRIGHT (THE GETAWAY PLAN)
Photo credit: Oliver Rudloff
TOURING THE EAST COAST IN MAY
"there is something special about the group"
- Rolling Stone Australia
"a versatile and genre-bending sound that still pays homage to their rock and metal roots"
- EARMILK
"Hands Like Houses deserve all the praise we’ve got to offer for this masterpiece of an album"
- Hysteria Mag
Australian rockers Hands Like Houses have unveiled "Paradise" featuring The Getaway Plan's Matthew Wright, the final track from their extended release Tropo - Volume 1, and just the first layer of music to come from the five-piece in 2024.
Across the four tracks, Hands Like Houses explore mental health struggles, societal disillusionment and addiction. Kicking off with riff-heavy "Heaven" in 2023 which marked Josh Raven's debut as the band's new frontman, it criticizes the lack of focus on love and acceptance amidst cultural and political polarization. The five-piece collaborated with metalcore legend Aaron Gillespie (Underoath, The Almost) on their next release "Better Before", before backing up with the anthemic "BLOODRUSH" ft. Emmy Mack (RedHook). The latter tackles addiction, portraying feelings of enslavement to escapsism and the normalization of unhealthy coping mechanisms. While finally, on "Paradise", the band delve into the cycle of negative thinking, when your mind is filled with guilt, shame and anger - twisting experiences and memories to leave them feeling inescapable.
With the completion of Tropo - Vol 1, Hands Like Houses shared: "This collection was a chance for us to rediscover our love for creating, but also an opportunity to strengthen our collaborative approach. Working with Emmy, Matt and Aaron allowed us to understand our process a little bit more and help shape what directions are possible moving forward. We have been writing together for over 15 years as a band, and inevitably things can get difficult and negative habits creep in. Tropo is a hard reset as a whole and it's really brought us closer together than we have been in years.
It was a real treat to work on 'Paradise' with Matt; The Getaway Plan were huge influences for us growing up and they carved a path where heavier rock music crossed over into a more mainstream space. We toured the UK/Europe with them back in 2013 and had a ripping time. Matt is a phenomenal artist and writer and we are stoked with how the song turned out."
Named after the Troposphere, the lowest layer of the atmosphere, Tropo - Volume 1 is the entry point into the new era of Hands Like Houses. It is an acknowledgement and appreciation of how the five-piece got here, seeing them reopen some of the vaults inside them. By tuning into where they came from, to reimagine and reinvent what their old sound could feel like in 2024, they have set the course for a year of exploration across diverse sounds, promising heaps of new music while they navigate their natural evolution as a collective.
Hands Likes Houses inject a fresh dose of modern stadium rock into Australia’s thriving alternative scene. The band has achieved 2 x Top 10 ARIA charting albums, over 130,000 album sales and 130 million Spotify streams. The five-piece – comprised of Josh Raven (vocals), Alexander Pearson (guitar), Joel Tyrrell (bass), Matt Cooper (guitar), Matthew Parkitny (drums) – have thrilled audiences around the world with their dynamic live performances, sharing arena stages with heavyweights such as Bring Me The Horizon and A Day To Remember at home, to performing internationally alongside legendary acts including Red Hot Chili Peppers, Alice Cooper and Disturbed, on Download Festival and Rock on the Range to name a few.
Hands Like Houses
Tropo - Vol 1 [EP]
Out now via Cooking Vinyl Australia
Watch / Stream here
Hands Like Houses
The Tropo Tour
With special guests Belle Haven*, Brixton Alley^, Bad Juju+, Recast#
Ticket link
Thursday 9 May - Brightside, Brisbane / Meanjin*^
Friday 10 May - Max Watts, Melbourne / Narrm*+
Thursday 16 May - Oxford Art Factory, Sydney / Eora*#
Friday 17 May - Fun Time Pony, Canberra / Ngunnawal* SOLD OUT
Saturday 18 May - Fun Time Pony, Canberra / Ngunnawal* NEW SHOW