Interviews: Acres

Acres has been steadily carving out their place in the modern heavy music scene, and with The Host, their third studio album, they’re taking things to a whole new level. Blending cinematic atmosphere with crushing heaviness, the band has evolved its sound while staying true to its signature emotional intensity.

We caught up with the band to discuss the making of The Host, working with Landon Tewers, the themes behind the record, and what fans can expect from their upcoming tour alongside Beartooth, The Devil Wears Prada, and The Plot In You.

1. The Host marks your fourth studio album—how do you feel this record represents your growth as a band?

This is our 3rd studio album. I think every time we’ve recorded an album it has been super important to us that it shows growth in the sound, and so far every record for me has done exactly that. We dabbled with a heavier sound and breakdowns in Burning Throne, but with The Host I feel like we really stepped up and evolved.

2. Landon Tewers produced the album—what did he bring to the table that helped shape the sound of The Host?

I’m such a fan of Landon’s work and The Plot In You, so working with him was awesome. He really helped shape the sound of the album and gave honest feedback on what sucked and didn’t suck and that’s something I’ve always wanted from a producer.

3. The title The Host is intriguing. What does it signify thematically or conceptually?

The Host is what we named the thing you can’t live without. It doesn’t have a physical form, but it could be anything that you think has an insidious impact on you. It’s about trying to break those habits in different situations, whether it’s an addiction, a relationship, a job, or anything else. This was the loose thematic blueprint for the record

4. How would you describe the musical and lyrical evolution from your previous album Burning Throne to The Host?

This records a lot more darker for sure and for the first time Jack wrote songs for the record and lyrically he has a totally different style to me so that was exciting and totally brought a fresh outlook on Acres songs.

5. Were there any specific influences—musical or non-musical—that played a big role in crafting this record?

Not really, we knew we wanted this record to be heavier and nastier than Burning Thone, but in all honesty, we came to the studio with very little so there was no real direction on how this album was going to sound. We’ve never done that with an album so we all went super excited about what we’d come away with.

6. Bloodlust has an intensely cinematic and eerie feel—what inspired the song and its visuals?

We all knew we wanted something kinda slow, dark, and sexy on the record, especially to open it and bloodlust was one of the first songs we ended up writing for the album. Visually, we wanted something that just complemented the song and that was dark!

7. Can you tell us about the creative process behind the video? Did you have a specific vision from the start?

Right off the bat, we knew we wanted something dark and gory and Jamie, who directed the video absolutely loved the ideas we had, and he did such a good job of bringing them to life.

8. There’s a strong blend of atmospheric synths and heavy rock in your sound—how do you balance those elements while keeping it uniquely Acres?

We’ve always had like backing strings or noise they’ve always played such an important role in our music and this time we made it more industrial sounding instead of orchestral like a lot of our old music.

9. You’re about to hit the road with The Plot In You, The Devil Wears Prada, and Beartooth—how does it feel to be touring with such big names in heavy music?

Very sick! We just did The Plot In You tour, and it was so much fun and we’re super excited to be playing a bunch of new places with The Devil Wears Prada.

10. Are there any particular dates or cities you’re most excited to play?

To be honest, a lot of the places I’ve never heard of, so I’m excited for the whole thing. I LOVE visiting new places I’ve never been and exploring what I can so I'm excited for the whole run!

11. How do you approach translating your layered, atmospheric sound into a live setting?

Luckily, our guitarist Ash is a bit of a wizard with this kinda thing because I have no idea. I know he spends a lot of time on our set and layers, so it’s definitely not an easy job.

12. Do you have any pre-show rituals or routines to get in the right mindset before performing?

Unfortunately, we don’t aha our backroom before the show is normally quite boring, and we just chill as much as we can before the show.

13. With over 240K monthly listeners on Spotify and millions of streams, how do you stay connected with your fanbase?

We still run all of our socials and reply to as many people as we can across all of it! We also still run our own merch at shows so we’re constantly meeting and talking to people at shows.

14. What’s one song from The Host that you’re most excited for fans to hear and why?

Build To Bleed is one I’m very excited for people to hear we’ve been playing it on tour and people have got really excited by it and have been asking when it’s out and playing a song that isn’t out is something we’ve also never done so it’s nice to see people reacting so positively to it!

15. Beyond this album cycle, do you have any other exciting projects or collaborations on the horizon?

Yeah, we have a few more surprises in store that are super exciting. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you what, but it’s exciting!