Australia, Get Ready! Hail The Sun Return For Their First Headline Tour

Hail The Sun are about to head out on their first Australian headline tour in June 2026, in support of their newest record cut. turn. fade. back. The band have toured extensively on their latest release, with sold out shows and massive stages across North America, the UK, Europe and South America. In the midst of it all, the band will return for a full national tour, covering Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth following a rapturous debut in Australia in February 2025 alongside touring partners The Fall of Troy and Closure in Moscow.

Anybody familiar with Hail The Sun will know there’s always a great deal of meaning beneath the surface. Their’s are songs the probe the very nature of existence, that strive to find the answers to the fundamental questions that being human raises, and that don’t flinch away from any form of self-reflection whatsoever. That’s been the case since the band – lead vocalist Donovan Melero, guitarists Shane Gann and Aric Garcia, bassist John Stirrat and drummer Allen Casillas – formed in Chico, CA in 2009, but is especially the case on cut. turn. fade. back, their seventh full-length. As their first Australian headline tour approaches front man Donovan Melero talks to Hi Fi Way about their return.

Great that we’re talking to you, inside one month to your first Australian headline tour.
Yeah, yeah, I can’t wait!

You’ve got to be really, really excited and pumped, especially heading to a few places like Adelaide and Perth for the first time?
I cannot wait. Yeah, we’re very excited to get to these new spots, and I’m really excited just to see what that part of the country’s like.

The shows last time with Fall Of Troy were incredible shows. Do you have a lot of great tour memories and stories from last time?
We do. I think just being able to hang out with all the guys from Fall Of Troy and all the guys in Closure in Moscow made for an extremely memorable experience that we still hold very dearly.

Has there been much thought in terms of who you’re bringing out on tour this time, or are you going with more local supports?
There’s going to be some more regional local supports, and I’m leaving that to Bird’s Robe. They have presented us some cool ideas, and we’ve let them know who we’ve selected from those bands, and that should be announced shortly (Reliqa and Fallweather).

With more time in Australia this time, do you actually get to better take it in a little bit more rather than being in and out of the country in a few days?
Yeah, we actually did that intentionally. I really want to spend at least a couple days near a beach, and we are coming in a day early to Brisbane, so I should be able to see a beach there. I know it’s technically your winter, so hopefully it’s not too cold. But I really wanted to see some more beaches, and I wanted to be able to just see more of the country. Three days for shows, and then we had one day off in Melbourne last time was just not enough, and now we’ll be over there a total of about nine days, and that feels like it’ll be a proper Australian trip. I just want to be on a nice beach, baking in the sun. I really, really want that to happen, and be able to see the clear water or so we see from the United States and whatever type of commercialised vision we have of Australia. It feels like there’s just so many beautiful spots on the beach, and I want to experience that.

How do you cope with those big, long‑haul flights? Do you have a particular strategy?
Not really. Well, our strategy… this might be a little too literal of answering your question, but myself and our guitarist are really high‑up Delta medallion tiers, so we just get the best seat we can, and we lay flat and sleep through the time that we’re supposed to sleep, so that we can land hopefully on Australian time. So this time, we will board the flight, be up for the first three hours, and hopefully sleep the next eight hours, so that we’re landing at 10 AM when we’re supposed to be awake.

Are you looking to focus mostly on the new album?
That is the plan. However, we’ll definitely have some of our past catalogue in there as well.

It’s hard to believe that it’s been six months since the album’s come out. Have you been blown away by the impact that it’s had on fans?
Well, yeah, we’re consistently blown away and very grateful that people care so deeply, and the response the songs have had live has been very validating as to the direction we continue to go. So we’re excited to just see what that’s like in Australia.

Even when you reflect on the album yourself, what do you think now? Are you still even more proud of the songs that you created?
Definitely. I’m not any less proud than we were when it came out. It feels like it’s resonated in the way that we wanted it to, and it’s continuing to resonate. The album’s only seven months old, and it seems to only be getting more and more attention and streaming, so we’re very happy about that.

Have your own personal favourites from the album changed as you’ve been playing them more live, and have those songs grown or evolved in a live sense?
They’ll always fluctuate to me, but my favourite is Relapse Is a Love Affair. I love performing that one, and I love being able to… I’m very proud of that. I’m glad that that’s become a crowd favourite.

Once this tour’s done, do you start talking about what might be the next album?
Yeah. That’s right. We’ve already started to write for that as well, but there’s still a lot of life left on the touring cycle with this one. I just want to make sure that we’re teed up to a point where, when the time comes, we’re completely ready to dive into the next one and figure out how to continue to push things forward.

There’s a few milestones clocking over as well. Culture Scars that turns ten!
God, already! It’s like wow, that. We’re announcing some Culture Scars shows in the United States. We’re very proud of that. On this last tour, we sold out a venue called the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles, and it was our first time selling out a room that big. It was over two thousand people, and it seems like the rest of the country’s not too close from having that type of demand. We’re just grateful to be able to experience that, coming from a band that used to perform just for the bartender in 2010, 2012.

Do you get to take a break at all and just take stock given your touring schedule is full on?
We do. I’m not good with breaks. I’m good at reading my body and doing my best to listen to it, but outside of Hail the Sun, I run a record label. I’m a booking agent as well, full‑time, for Sound Talent Group. I book your native boys, Closure in Moscow. I’m their North American agent, and I just do a lot of things outside of Hail the Sun. Hail the Sun fuels it all, and Hail the Sun is the foundation and what got my feet wet for any type of industry work. But my breaks, I enjoy in Massachusetts with my parents and my girlfriend, and I’m back and forth from LA to there a lot when I’m not on tour.

Are there any other bands we should be keeping an eye on that are connected with you as a promoter and booker?
Absolutely. There’s a band called Mella that’s on Kill Iconic and Equal Vision Records, and there’s a band called Lobby Boxer, same thing, the same team, and they are about to make a bunch of noise. I’m very excited for people to hear their newest works.

For you personally, what’s the next project you’ve got on the go that might not necessarily be Hail the Sun?
I’m going to be working on some new solo stuff, and I’m getting together with some of the guys from Hail the Sun and some of the guys from another band I’m in, Nova Charisma, and we’re going to put together a top‑secret type of album out in New York. That I’m really looking forward to doing.

How do you distinguish between what sits with Hail the Sun and what might be your own solo work?
Hail the Sun, there are the main songwriters, I’m one of them, but it really takes everybody who’s a songwriter in that band to have it be a Hail the Sun song. And so anything that we’re working on collaboratively with Hail the Sun, or at the beginning of a cycle, I’m going to write on my own for Hail the Sun and then bring it to the band to have it go through whatever it has to go through to become a Hail the Sun song. Everything outside of that, it’s really just by choice of who I want to surround myself with and who I want to be around. I have a plethora of amazing musicians and partners that I can collaborate with, and that’s what I’m getting this itch to do a new thing, and I’ll be able to scratch that itch hopefully this summer in New York with some really great musicians.

Is that also performing with a band, or is it something you’d perform solo by yourself when you do this live?
We’ll definitely take it on the road or do live performances with the band.

It’s got to be exciting, is there a bit of pressure when you step out of the spotlight of Hail the Sun and you’re doing something uniquely yours?
Totally. I’ve done solo tours before, I’ve done solo albums, I’ve sang in, I was in a band called Sianvar, I’m in a band called Nova Charisma that’s not terribly active, but I love being able to continuously switch it up, as long as I stay focused on what has to be in my immediate scope.

Interview By Rob Lyon

Catch Hail The Sun on tour with Reliqa and Fallweather, tickets from Bird’s Robe…