Fox Lake Talk Australian Debut Tour And What's Next

Colorado heavyweights Fox Lake are gearing up to bring their explosive fusion of hardcore, hip-hop and metallic groove to Australia for the very first time, joining Swiss deathcore juggernauts Paleface Swiss and Canadian metalcore favourites Counterparts for a massive run of shows in January and February 2027 as well as a slot on the epic lineup for Adelaide’s Froth & Fury Festival.

And while the Denver outfit have spent years building a formidable rep on the international touring circuit, their long-awaited Australian debut is shaping up to be a particularly special milestone – not least because they’ll be sharing the stage with some of their musical heroes.

Ahead of the tour, Music Feeds caught up with Fox Lake guitarist Brandon Kemp to talk about the band’s connection with Australian heavy music, the surreal experience of touring alongside childhood favourites, the success of their latest album New World Heat, and their plans for the next chapter.

Fox Lake – ‘Real Fast’

On Finally Making It To Australia

For Fox Lake, the opportunity to tour Australia has been a long time coming.

“We get a ton of responses from Australia whenever we do stuff on Instagram, like ask-us-anything or ‘where should we tour?’ questions,” Kemp tells Music Feeds.

“A lot of our listeners on Spotify seem to be coming from Australia. I think there’s an Australian city that’s in our top five, which is just incredible.”

That connection has made the wait for their first visit even more agonising.

“There’s always been this really, really cool connection with Australia. And so to finally be able to go over there, we just can’t wait.”

The band are also hoping to squeeze in some adventures away from the stage, with plans to catch up with Australian musician friends for camping, fishing and a little exploration beyond the usual tourist hotspots.

“Our band has always really loved travel and experiencing everything that a place has to offer,” Kemp explains.

“Sometimes that necessitates setting an alarm at seven or eight o’clock in the morning and taking a train or a bus into town. Whenever we can, we’ll kind of sneak away and try to see everything that a place has to offer.”

Touring With Paleface Swiss & Counterparts Is A Full-Circle Moment

The upcoming Aussie run will reunite Fox Lake with Paleface Swiss, whom they previously toured with for a brief stretch around two years ago.

“We got to know them through that, which was incredible because they were just on the cusp of breaking into being one of the biggest bands in music,” Kemp recalls.

“Seeing them continue to explode has been incredible.”

But it’s the addition of Counterparts that carries an especially personal significance.

“I’ve seen Counterparts maybe five or six times at least. I’ve been seeing them for years and years,” he explains.

“I saw them at a garage show in Denver on their second or third album, maybe when I was in high school.”

“So I have loved that band for the better part of my life. Getting to tour with them is just such a surreal, full-circle moment that’s extremely exciting.”

Fox Lake’s Love Affair With Aussie Heavy Music

It turns out the band’s relationship with Australia’s heavy scene runs much deeper than their streaming numbers.

Fox Lake have already forged close friendships with some of the country’s most exciting exports, including Ocean Grove and Thornhill.

“We toured with Ocean Grove earlier this year, and they became very fast friends of ours,” Kemp says.

“We were lucky enough to share a bus with them. I was listening to some of the first Ocean Grove EPs when they were very first starting off, when I was writing some of the first demos for Fox Lake.”

“So I’ve been a fan of that band for years, and getting to tour with them and share a bus and hang out with them was just incredible.”

Thornhill have made an equally strong impression.

“Thornhill are some of the nicest guys we’ve ever met. They took phenomenal care of us on the headliner that they did earlier this year.”

“So hopefully, if they’re not gone being the biggest band in the world, then we can hang out with them a little bit.”

Kemp also singles out Sydney hardcore outfit SPEED as one of the bands doing exciting things for the scene.

Beyond their music, he’s particularly impressed by their commitment to supporting emerging hardcore acts.

“They did such a cool thing in bringing out some really niche, specific hardcore bands on their headliner,” he says.

“I think that’s such a cool way to pay it forward and to make sure that you’re investing in the scene that means something to you.”

“That’s something that I really value.”

The Success Of New World Heat – And Keeping Heavy Music Human

Fox Lake’s latest album, New World Heat, has helped propel the band to new heights, with their music reportedly racking up more than 30 million streams.

But rather than chasing streaming numbers, the band approached the record with a very specific creative goal: capturing the visceral energy of their live performances.

“We came up with the name of the record before we had written really anything for it,” Kemp explains.

“We wanted the record to feel energetic, and we wanted it to feel hot, and we wanted there to be this kind of urgency to it.”

That philosophy extended to the recording process itself.

The band wanted to avoid leaning too heavily on studio tricks that couldn’t be replicated onstage, instead prioritising a sound that felt immediate and organic.

“We wanted to make sure that when you’re listening to the record, it feels like a live show, and then when you go to a live show, it feels even bigger,” he says.

“We wanted to make sure that it felt tangible, and we wanted there to be that warmth to it.”

“We wanted to make sure that it felt like people playing music.”

What’s Next? New Music Written In The Middle Of Nowhere

With the band already working on new material, Fox Lake have been experimenting with a different approach to songwriting.

Rather than starting with computer-based demos, they recently escaped to an isolated property owned by their drummer’s family for a four-day writing retreat.

“It’s like three and a half hours away from anything. Just out in the middle of absolutely nowhere,” Kemp explains.

“We brought a bunch of groceries and stuff to throw on the grill, and we went out and just tried to write stuff that got us excited.”

The aim was to capture the chemistry of the entire band creating music together in the same room.

“Instead of writing something onto the computer, we wanted to write stuff that was written and performed for all of us together in a room.”

And while the retreat proved fruitful, it also left the band wanting more.

“As soon as we kind of hit our groove, we had to leave,” he laughs.

“But we came out with some really incredible stuff.”

Those early ideas have since been taken back into the studio with producer Connor Haynes, whom Kemp describes as an unofficial fifth member of Fox Lake.

“He has always been the fifth member of the band,” he says.

The writing process then becomes one of refinement, with the group experimenting with arrangements, tempos and dynamics until each song feels right.

“It was really cool to have a different starting place,” Kemp reflects.

Almost A Decade In, Fox Lake Are Still Hungry For More

With 2027 marking roughly ten years since Fox Lake first came together, the band have plenty to reflect on.

From playing major festivals to supporting international artists and travelling the world, Kemp says they’ve already surpassed many of their earliest ambitions.

“We’ve absolutely accomplished what we set out to do with this band,” he says.

Among the surreal highlights are performing on the main stage at Inkcarceration Festival, playing to thousands of fans in London alongside Poppy, and sharing unforgettable experiences with musicians who were once their heroes.

One particularly memorable adventure involved taking an icy plunge into Norwegian waters with members of Ocean Grove.

“We just jumped off the side of this dock into glacier runoff, and it’s the coldest thing I’ve ever experienced,” Kemp recalls.

“It’s just such a cool thing to be friends with heroes of yours, people that you look up to musically and creatively, and then getting to share that kind of experience.”

But despite everything they’ve achieved, Fox Lake aren’t ready to slow down.

“The goal was to be as big as we possibly can while keeping it authentic to who we are,” Kemp explains.

“I think there’s always room to push that even further.”

“We’re all such driven people when it comes to this band creatively, and even just from a business standpoint. We all want so much from it.”

And while he’s grateful for how far they’ve come, that ambition shows no signs of fading.

“I don’t think we’ll ever be really satisfied,” he admits.

Still, if the band were to call it quits tomorrow, Kemp says he’d be able to look back on their journey with immense pride.

“It’s so far exceeded any of my expectations and any of my wildest dreams, for the people that I’ve met, the bands that we’ve toured with and the things that we’ve done.”

For now, though, the focus is firmly on Australia.

“Australia is a place that we’ve always dreamed of being able to go,” he says.

“We really, truly are so excited. We just cannot wait to be there and can’t wait to meet everyone.”