Freshly Pressed – Huron Lines “Blacklight”

Windsor, ON-based post-punk alt-rockers Huron Lines are back with a brand new single, “Blacklight”, from their sophomore album Found In Floods. With the band’s signature gritty rock sound, “Blacklight” tackles serious subject matter, touching on the “often-unspoken plague of mental health suffered by men and the silence that often comes with it”. We caught up with Huron Lines to chat about the new music, the bands they’re listening to right now, and what they feel makes a venue great.

From The Strait: Tell us about the new single, “Blacklight”.

Huron Lines: I read an article about the concept of “Death By Despair” dealing with the never ending tragedy of suicide and how adult males in the western world are particularly susceptible and statistically more likely to die by suicide. It left an impression on me. There is this strange darkness that can sometimes lurk around adult males in North America. Expectations around social and economic achievements can create a heavy weight that can be too much for some to bear. The lack of acceptance around talking about these things is a huge issue. The idea that we all have something following us around – something that triggers us into a mentally dark place – but is rarely talked about – is something that I think you start to realize as you get older. I would say this song is a journey around that entire theme.

FTS: Your sophomore album Found In Floods will be released later this year – what can fans expect? How do you feel your sound has evolved since your first album?

Huron Lines: Found in Floods is a sibling album to our first album Lost At The Border in the sense that it was also made during the pandemic (throughout 2021 and early 2022) and we did it in the same place (our studio space above my garage) with the same engineer / producer helping along the way, our friend Joshua Kaiser. I think we all were a little more comfortable with the process this time around and it allowed us to push the songs even further. Sonically that really comes thru as the record sounds huge. We worked with a Michigan-based mixing engineer to mix the record, Jacob Rye, who also pushed things sonically and brought a gritty polish to the songs. Bill Skibbe mastered the first one and he did this one as well. Everyone involved kinda knew what we did the first time around as a starting point which helps I think.

We are still a relatively new band. Our sound has developed from album 1 to album 2 in that it is a little more focused and confident. We are excited for any fans of the first album to hear what we have been up to and to get out and play shows with all these songs we made during the pandemic.

FTS: What’s one album or band you can’t get enough of right now?

Huron Lines: There’s so much great music right now. I listened to The Fledge yesterday on repeat. They are a new band from Hamilton that we are going to playing with on October 7th at The Casbah (alongside The Merinuks). The Fledge is made up of Hamilton’s finest including members of Kitchens & Bathrooms, Dead Tired, The Inflation Kills, etc. Definitely get them on your playlist. Speaking of which, we actually have a playlist called Rock N Roll Will Save Your Life on Spotify people can check out if they are interested to hear what we are digging these days: open.spotify.com/playlist/61VQxtrXG0OXLXVaf5fZs3.

FTS: What has been your favourite venue to play? (And what in your opinion, makes a venue great?)

Huron Lines: Tough question. Venues have been through such a challenging time the last few years I would feel bad singling out anyone in particular as a “favourite”. Any venue who has made it to 2022 is obviously doing it for the right reasons. I definitely want to shout out Phog Lounge, Meteor, Villains and all the venues in our hometown of Windsor in particular who have kept things going for original artists and music fans locally. We are lucky to have these spaces and the people behind them in our community.

Having toured and played stages across North America in previous bands, I would have to say that great venues, regardless of their size, are places that support artists and fans with a welcoming culture and atmosphere, have a proper sound system and layout to suit the event, and are appropriately organized to create a space where fans and artists can safely create moments that last a lifetime. Live music is one of the most powerful community based activities in the world and having “great” venues is an essential part of the entire music ecosystem.

FTS: Describe each band member in one word.

Huron Lines: I’ll keep it simple:
Grainger – guitar
Nick – drums
Justyn – bass/vox
Dave – guitar/vox

Check out “Blacklight”, the new single from Huron Lines!