Q&A: The Hails Reintroduce Themselves Through Upcoming Release “Exonerate”

Q&AMusic

Oct 21

☆ BY GABBY MACOGAY ☆

IT ALL BEGAN WITH AN ARCTIC MONKEYS T-SHIRT — and the rest was history. The Hails’ unmistakable edge and influential sound has landed them as a notable name in the indie music scene over the past few years, but when the band first met through circumstance in a University of Florida dining hall, they never would have guessed that their fun-loving college gigs would turn into a full-time career venture.

The Hails’ earlier singles, “Younger” and “Stay,” have received heavy love on all streaming platforms, becoming some of their most notable pieces of work. The band creates the perfect chill environment to enjoy music, with a discography full of head-banging hits and toe-tapping beats alike.

Now, preparing for the release of their latest single, “Exonerate,” on Oct. 21, The Hails are stepping into a new, more cohesive chapter of their career. The eclectic five-person band, composed of Robbie Kingsley, Franco Solari, Dylan McCue, Andre Escobar, and Zach Levy, has refined their sound to be both sweet as “Sugar” yet full of grit and excitement. Pairing a sense of nostalgia with an easy-going, atmospheric sound, the band continues to dazzle with each new track.

Read more below to discover how The Hails went from rocking college house parties to playing international festivals through their journey as a band, and what they’re looking forward to next.

LUNA: Let's talk your newest release that's coming out later this month. What can fans expect from this new single?

KINGSLEY: I guess I'd say it's like a fresh, new, stronger sound — sort of like a bold coffee. It wakes you up, gets you ready to go. Yeah, so that's on the mind. I think the important thing for us was kind of reintroducing ourselves to our fans and even just the people we work with, like our little team. Just reintroducing ourselves with a stronger outlook. I think last year was kind of weird just because we were fighting through little adversities along the way, like trying to figure out if we're going to tour or not and nothing lining up. And then we executed a release all on our own. But basically, now we're ready to go with more partners on board. It feels much more cohesive this time around.

LUNA: Awesome. What are you most excited about for this new era for The Hails?

KINGSLEY: To be honest, the visuals, but they're not even shot yet — I have them all in my head. But I think it'll be a stronger, more bold look that kind of represents more of a unity within the band. You know, we like showing our individuality onstage and in photos and stuff like that, but I think now it's a bit more uniform, and it's a bit more like The Hails are a solid unit.

LUNA: Do you think that there's a perfect environment for a fan to listen to The Hails song?

KINGSLEY: It's certainly not like a big party or something like that, I think we're a little too chill for that (laughs). But I don't know. I mean, I think in the routines of your day-to-day lives. That's especially where I like to listen to the music that connects with me, where it's like, I'm either in a car, I'm going somewhere, or I recently moved to New York. So sometimes I'm on the subway listening on my AirPods. So I think those moments where you're just listening to the song just for the sake of the song, not as background music or anything like that, I think it's awesome if people listen to us like that.

LUNA: Cool. What first brought all of you together as a band?

KINGSLEY: So we met at University of Florida — this is like, five, six years ago. And I met Zach, our drummer, in the cafeteria at UF, just like, big group of friends sitting together. And he liked the fact that I was wearing an Arctic Monkeys shirt, so we naturally got to talking about music and then it went from there. Basically, he had a band back in South Florida that ended up being Franco and Andre, so they naturally joined our band. And then Dylan, the guitarist, he's also from South Florida. So they had loose connections along the way. Eventually, everyone was at UF at the same time and then we just started playing at the local venues like pretty much once, twice a month, and more people [would] just come out. It's funny … going back because I feel so disconnected now. You know, we graduated a couple years ago, but going back, we played with our friends Flipturn — they did a big album release festival. And it was crazy. I remember playing with them and both of us were struggling to sell 50 tickets to a show and then this last thing was like 1,000 people or something?

LUNA: That’s awesome.

KINGSLEY: Yeah, it’s great.

LUNA: How would you say that your time in Gainesville and that kind of music scene helped you form your sound?

KINGSLEY: I think it gave us a chance to fail first. Yeah, I think it gave us a chance to fail where we were able to write songs and release them. You know, it was like a trial period where we were able to put out stuff and show people kind of what we're about — we still didn't know what we were going to make. And we didn't even get together regularly. We each had our own little pockets of friend groups, and I was really into going to Gator football games and doing that whole typical college thing. But then once a lot more people started to gravitate towards the band, we really kind of shifted our focus into, "Hey, maybe this could be a post-college journey."

LUNA: Love that, awesome. So you just played at Flipturn's recent festival in Gainesville and you guys are about to play in Miami's III Points festival coming up soon. What is your favorite part about performing at events like this, where it's not just one catered audience but it's a bunch of people coming together?

KINGSLEY: First off, I just love festivals. I think they're like the perfect music experience — you get a little taste of anything. But then I guess from the artists' side, it's nice because you've got a ton of people that are ready to be won over. You know, faces that you've never seen before. And, who knows, maybe they're there for Rosalia at III Points and they just happen to grab a beer and walk by our set. You never know. So I think it's just a great opportunity to get your name out there and meet new people. Because especially III Points is gonna be cool because it's more of an international festival, if you really kind of think about it. There's a ton of acts that I've never even heard before and people that don't sound like our indie-rock sound or whatever.

LUNA: Yeah, I was looking at the lineup and it's really interesting. There's a ton of different acts in there, some I've never heard of, some I'm fans of, so it's cool to see all of that merging together.

KINGSLEY: Yeah.

LUNA: Is there one song that you feel best represents your vision for the band, or what The Hails is?

KINGSLEY: I was always huge on “Stay,” before it came out. And those lyrics are probably the most personal for me — really, just the fact that it has that line about Carolina. Yeah, that was a big one, that was also one of the first ones that me and Franco collaborated on, which was really cool. He came up with the riff and then I had the verse [and] melody immediately. So it was very seamless, you know, writing that song. So I think that was like a turning point for us. But then with the newer stuff, I think the sound is naturally going to shift, and I think “Exonerate” does that pretty well. I really do think that this new song is a good representation of our interest, where it's just outside of the mainstream enough, but it still has those pop sensibilities to it.

LUNA: If you could say anything to your younger self, like when you were first starting out this band or when you realized you wanted to make this more of a full time thing, what would you say?

KINGSLEY: I'd love to say, “Just keep at it,” but, like, I am just keeping at it (laughs). I don't know, I guess just don't get caught up in numbers, because it's hard. You know, you're like, “What are the Spotify numbers for today? How many people watched our video last night?” And I tell myself this all the time too — I told my younger self yesterday about this. Just keep doing this for you because, at the end of the day, if you like the music, people are gonna like the music. We just got to go find those people that have similar tastes.

LUNA: Awesome, I love that. If you could describe who The Hails are in three words, what would they be?

KINGSLEY: I guess, diverse. We come from a lot of different backgrounds and countries — even, like, Franco's from Argentina originally. Forward-thinking and easygoing. The personalities, at the end of the day… we're just five corny guys. So it's kind of funny because we really don't take — it's kind of a pitfall of ours — we don't take a lot too seriously. So sometimes we do need to take things more seriously, but for the most part everything's very light and easygoing.

LUNA: I like that, that's great. Is there anything else you would want to add that you'd want to say to fans or any new listeners?
KINGSLEY: Obviously, “Exonerate,” Oct. 21. III Points, Oct. 22. We're gonna be doing — it's not announced yet — but we're doing a really cool New Year's Eve show, so big plans for the end of the year. And honestly, big plans for the “Exonerate” rollout. We got a lot of videos backloaded and ready to go. So don't think we're gonna die off through the end of the year.

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We couldn’t be more stoked to have Suriel Hess as our new headliner for our upcoming LA show 🤩 🫶 Not gonna lie, us & Notorious Noise kinda went OFF with this line up & you’re not gonna wanna miss it - ticket link in bio 🎫