Far Out Meets: Inhaler talk imposter syndrome and new album ‘Cuts & Bruises’
I’ve been fortunate to interview artists in opulent locations doing this job, but having a conversation with Inhaler at Gate 110 at Dublin Airport is the strangest of them all. Initially, this interview was supposed to take place in Dingle ahead of their set at Other Voices, but as we found ourselves in the same queue for the delayed Ryanair flight to Kerry and time was running out, it became clear it was time to enact Plan B.
Inhaler’s triumphant performance at the intimate St. James Church in Dingle for Other Voices marked the band’s final performance of 2022. However, hours earlier, it looked like the show was in jeopardy. Coincidentally, we’d chosen the same mode of transport, which was met with continuous delays, and it was uncertain whether our flight would even arrive at all. Thankfully, to our collective relief, the plane finally showed up after three hours of patiently killing time at the airport.
It’s been a year to remember for the Dublin four-piece comprised of vocalist Elijah Hewson, lead guitarist Josh Jenkinson, bassist Robert Keating, and drummer Ryan McMahon. Their debut album, It Won’t Always Be Like This, was released in July 2021, topping the charts in the UK and Ireland. Since restrictions were lifted last year, Inhaler have been living with their feet glued to the road while simultaneously taking breaks to record their highly-anticipated second album, Cuts & Bruises.
Their brand of uplifting arena-ready anthems look set to take them to the stratosphere, and seeing them in front of fewer than 100 people at Other Voices was a spine-tingling experience. In the two nights ahead of their appearance, Inhaler had returned home to Dublin for a pair of concerts at the historic Olympia Theatre. It’s where they’ve seen Interpol, Wolf Alice, and Royal Blood as fans, played as the support for Blossoms, and now, they’ve conquered the venue for two nights in their own name.
Despite being sleep deprived after celebrating the previous night’s achievements, Inhaler were in fine spirits when we found somewhere vaguely quiet to carry out the interview. With the high of the night before fresh on their minds, Jenkinson called it “a weird full circle moment”, and Hewson reverently described how the energetic crowd made the walls vibrate.
Inhaler have been living in the fast lane over the last 18 months and barely had a chance to reflect. Last month, they enjoyed a whirlwind trip to Corona Capital in Mexico City and made a detour in New York for a press run on the way back. It’s a frantic lifestyle which still feels foreign. Hewson honestly concedes: “There’s a little bit of imposter syndrome. You just can’t believe you’re in this position, whatever it is. It’s a teenage dream.”
However, ahead of the second show at the Olympia, Inhaler were brought crashing down to Earth. McMahon self-deprecatingly recalls: “The great thing about Irish audiences is they are the most humbling. We had a little stroll through the venue yesterday just as the doors were opening. It wasn’t on purpose, but by accident, and we were trying to figure out just like Spinal Tap trying to make our way back to the room, and fans are running past us in the most humbling way possible. One of them pointed at Eli and goes, ‘Hey, that’s your man.'”
As much as the group require a well-deserved Christmas break before resuming their tour in February, they are thankful to be out playing shows and traipsing across the world, even if it’s been non-stop. When they released It Won’t Always Be Like This, Inhaler were still unable to play shows, and even when gigs returned in the United Kingdom, Ireland was still off-limits. McMahon optimistically opines: “It was a weird time to put out your first album, but we’re just counting our lucky stars that the second one comes out in February and we’ll actually be able to tour.”
With It Won’t Always Be Like This, Inhaler became the first Irish band in 13 years to earn a number-one album with their debut album, a feat which caused “a little bit of imposter syndrome again”, according to Hewson. He adds: “It was just bizarre, and I think the UK one was amazing, but getting the Irish number one on top of that was really special. It was just surreal.”
According to Jenkinson, work began on Cuts & Bruises “the day after we celebrated, I’m not even messing”. McMahon’s memory dates even further back: “I think it was the day after we actually put the first album to bed in November 2020, even before it was mixed,” he says. “Eli sent the first demo, a song called ‘Just To Keep You Satisfied’. That’s all we could do was keep writing songs because there were no gigs.”
‘Just To Keep You Satisfied’ is the opening track to Cuts & Bruises and the song that started their second album’s journey. However, that is not the oldest song on the record. They’ve also found room on the LP for fan favourite, ‘Dublin In Ecstasy’, which has been around since they were teens. McMahon explains their decision to revive the track: “Our really early fans latched on to that song. We didn’t play it for around four years because we kept falling in and out of love with it, trying to write different versions of it. But, in the last two shows we just played, we brought it back, and that’s our way of serving our fans who have been there from the start.”
For the new album, Inhaler reconvened with producer Antony Genn, and McMahon says they were intent on making “very much a band album”. Detailing further, Hewson adds: “Get Back (The Beatles documentary) was hugely influential, just being in the room and writing. It sounds so obvious, but when you’re on tour, you actually don’t get a chance to do that, so we tried to do that as much as possible.”
In the current musical landscape, a gaping hole exists for a band to come along and bring rock back into mainstream consciousness, with Inhaler holding all the necessary requirements for the role. Although the band’s critics will claim Hewson’s father, U2 singer Bono, is the reason why they are in this position (and it may have helped them early on), ultimately, it’s down to the strength of their songs. Countless children of musical royalty have failed at their attempts at artistic endeavours, and goodwill alone only gets you so far.
Since releasing It Won’t Always Be Like This, the group have barely had time to breathe, and it is draining. This year Wet Leg, Sam Fender and Yard Act all cancelled shows to protect their mental health, and Inhaler have also endured challenging moments. “We saw pictures of ourselves from this time last year, and we were like, ‘I don’t know who those people are,'” McMahon recalls.
The drummer continues: “It’s just the travelling on a plane every second day. It sounds such a silly thing to complain about, but when it’s all the time, it can definitely take its toll on you mentally more than physically.” On that notion, Hewson adds: “It’s a tricky thing with music. It’s not so much the physical exertion. It’s the highs and lows of receiving that much energy and excitement every night, then having to come down from that and get up the next morning to maintain that energy you had the previous night, that can wear you down.”
Second album syndrome has sent many promising bands to the slaughterhouse, but Jenkinson is proud of their evolution on Cuts & Bruises. “I felt pressure recording it but putting it out? I feel a little more at ease, you’ve done it before now, so you’re not as nervous.” His comment is supported by McMahon, who adds: “I think we all as a collective feel a lot more together, stronger and proud of these songs.”
Studio work for the album began in January and was finally finished in September. Whenever there was a slight gap in the diary, Inhaler would chip away at Cuts & Bruises and gradually step nearer to completion. During the summer, there were festival dates galore and a European run with Arctic Monkeys, which was an inspiring experience for Inhaler. Not only were they thanked with a bottle of champagne for their contribution to shows, but they were also asked back to support them again on the road in 2023.
“Every night, we just got to watch them be the greatest rock band in the world,” McMahon dotes. “They’re just so on it, and for a band that hadn’t toured in like three years, they really proved why they’re still at the top, and their new album is so fun to listen to. The fact we get to do it all again goes back to that imposter syndrome. We don’t feel worthy of it at all.”
The run took Inhaler across a number of European countries for a series of headline Arctic Monkeys shows. It also took both bands to the Summer Well festival in Romania, and one moment from the event stands out as the highlight of the run. “When they were doing ‘Crying Lightning’, thunder started going off,” Hewson says before McMahon intervenes, “They had a word with God. You couldn’t write it.”
As well as learning through watching the Arctic Monkeys on-stage every night, Inhaler were blown away by one luxury that comes with being a band of the Monkeys’ stature, which is now on their wishlist. “They were telling me about this flight case, which has a lamp in, a table, so they bring the bar with them (on tour),” Eli Hewson says. “They were like, ‘Get one of these as soon as you can. It’ll make any drab room feel mint’.”
While Inhaler may feel like imposters, they are very much the real deal, which is why they’ve got the stamp of approval from some of the biggest in the business. Having witnessed them blow the roof off St. James Church at Other Voices and turn the John Peel Stage at Glastonbury into a carnival this summer, there’s no reason why the Dubliners can’t become festival headliners of tomorrow.
Inhaler’s set from Other Voices will be shown on RTÉ 2 next year. Visit here for more information on the festival. Cuts & Bruises is out on February 17th via Polydor Records. Visit here to buy the album and for tickets to Inhaler’s UK tour.
