Interview: Inhaler Is Ready to Rock Austin

Irish indie-rock quartet Inhaler shared inspirations and insights about touring with Afterglow ahead of its ‘Open Wide’ tour stop in Austin.

Written by Janie Bickerton

Photo courtesy of Lewis Evans

In an effortless blend of darkness and light, Inhaler has once again proved itself as a pop-rock tour-de-force on its third album, Open Wide. Inhaler’s 2025 record seethes with a bright passion untapped on previous records, partly because of the band’s collaboration with British producer Tom Hull, better known as Kid Harpoon. Since its formation in Dublin circa 2012, Inhaler has brought its sultry grunge riffs and snappy pop beats across the pond on several tours, both opening for major British acts and headlining its own shows. Ahead of their ‘Open Wide’ tour stop in Austin on March 18, lead vocalist and guitarist Elijah Hewson and drummer Ryan McMahon sat down with Afterglow to talk about their influences, how their sound has developed, and what they’ve learned over the years about putting on a great show.

Afterglow: First of all, I wanted to say congratulations on your latest album, Open Wide! It’s truly stellar. 

Eli Hewson: Thank you, that’s very kind.

Let’s start with inspirations for the record. You’ve worked with several prominent British producers on previous projects, but for Open Wide, you branched out by collaborating with Grammy winner Kid Harpoon. How did he impact the record, and what’s the best advice you learned from him?

Ryan McMahon: Tommy boy!

Eli: Tommy boy, he’s never called that ever. I think what we were expecting is not what we got with him in a great way. We were expecting [for him to] go in and be like, “Okay, what's the chorus?” You know, very pop-regimented, but he was not like that at all. He just wanted to make music, and he didn't even want the label to come down. He didn't want any of the managers in the room. He was just like, “We're making this album, and you can think about the singles later.” We were really impressed by that, and we really liked his vibe — just to not overthink things, and [not to] stress about what the ‘silver bullet’ is on the album. Just make something that you love, and it'll communicate with people. And I think we did that. There's plenty more to talk about Tom. He's a fantastic human.

More on the sound of Open Wide. The album’s gritty yet bright sound has moments of ‘90s Britpop reminiscence, and it seamlessly blends alternative rock with those glittering pop beats. How have you developed your pop-rock sound, and what goes into putting a modern spin on a well-established genre?

Eli: You make us sound a lot smarter than we actually are.

Ryan: And better. 

Eli: We like the Stone Roses and New Order and Oasis. [They were] all very important for us in the beginning, and they've always stayed as a big influence. Having that [influence], and then working with Tom, who works in a more modern world, he … found that crossover point for us. Like [the] song “Open Wide,” the title track, to me [it] feels so New Order-y, like all the guitar and stuff. And we just kind of leaned into that a little bit. But it was song by song, it wasn't like overall in the album. It was like, “What does this song feel like?” Yeah. I think there's also maybe a resurgence of that sound coming out right now. I don't really know why, but it wasn't premeditated by us. It just came out of the song.

Ryan: When recording or writing, I don't think we're ever consciously trying to capture a particular sound from a particular time. I think we just try our hardest to make music that we enjoy and that we want to hear, and wherever people think that that sounds from, it's kind of cool [to see]. You can't pigeonhole every song into one specific time period, [and] like that a lot because we listen to so much music from different times as well.

I wanted to talk about one specific song from the album. My personal favorite is “Even Though” because of its mix of spacey synths with lyrics that have this nihilistic devotion [playing into] it. Could you share your inspiration for that song and the process of making it into the standout that it is?

Eli: Thank you, it's one of our favorites as well. Yeah, it was … a piece of music that was lying around for a while. I think we always knew our potential, but we just kind of parked it, [let it sit] in a bank for a while, and then we brought it out for this album. And, yeah, it's all based around that EBow-y guitar sound with the synth, and … definitely it feels like a different territory for us. … It’s more spacey, like, dark[er] than we've done. 

Ryan: It's a bit of a dark horse tune on the album.

Eli: Yeah, live it really gets a quite physical reaction from people, which is really fun. The subject matter of it is kind of like the rest of the album — being attracted to something that maybe isn't good for you.

Well, I’m excited to hear it live in Austin! 

Eli: Oh yeah, we’ll put it on the setlist.

Ryan: We’ll have to, yeah!

Oh, is it not confirmed on the setlist?

Eli: We’re switching off because we’re playing like nine new songs every night, and we feel like it’s a bit much. We’ve been doing “The Charms” for the last few shows, and we'll do “Even Though” in Austin. Your personal request.

Thank you, I’m happy to be a part of the setlist! You’ve headlined shows in Austin before, each time going to bigger and bigger venues. What keeps you returning to Austin, which we lovingly know as the Live Music Capital of the World?

Ryan: I think that is very evident every time we go back there. Also, there's some of the most hospitable people that you've ever met in Austin …  also just in America, I think we've been very blessed with the people that we've met. You know, everywhere we've been, we just meet more and more good-hearted, kind humans. But I don't know. I think the sunshine as well is such a big thing.

Eli: But also, we have fans there, so we're going to come back. Yeah, I think [for] anywhere that latches onto the band, we always make a conscious effort to come back as much as we can. And America has been really good to our band — we've had a good connection since the beginning. 

Ryan: It’s been interesting on this tour as well because we're playing in a bunch of places that we've never played before. This is our first ever time in Florida, and so we're kind of a bit gobsmacked that there are even people in the first place showing up to see our band. And I remember the first gig that we did in Austin rocked our worlds. It was in 2022 … I do remember the gig [feeling] like there was something special in the air that day. So we're coming back and we'll keep coming back.

You opened for Pearl Jam in Austin in 2023, and you’ve also opened for popular artists like Harry Styles and Arctic Monkeys. How have you grown as a band since opening for these acts, and how do those experiences compare to headlining your own shows?

Eli: I think nerves are probably higher for opening slots because the people aren't there to see you. You've got to work it — I mean, not like we don’t work it all the time. It gets the blood going a bit, but the great thing is, you're off by like eight o'clock, and you get to watch a great band or artist.

Ryan: With a band like Arctic Monkeys, who across their discography, there's no one album that sounds the same to the other … I think we took from them to just keep making music that you want to make, and then if you're happy with that, hopefully, that translates into your audience, and they'll come along with you for the journey. Another thing that we took from them was the attention to detail [in] their shows, like after sound check [and] before sound check. You would always see Alex Turner at the lighting desk talking for like an hour through the lights and the shows and the setup and everything. And that's something that we've really taken into our own hands on the last tour that we just did, and this one now. That attention and care for your craft that far into your career, and [to] have that still be present was something amazing. Also, the degree of kindness that we received, especially from Pearl Jam. We grew up being huge grunge heads. To have someone like Eddie Vedder be just like the nicest person in music to you, it was a huge thing.

It seems you definitely took advice about life on tour from them. Did their music at all influence your music?

Eli: I'd say so, I think subconsciously I wouldn't say that they were a direct resource of [inspiration] for us. We’re never like, “Okay, this is gonna feel like Pearl Jam.” But I think me and Ryan, especially, because we were really big into the grunge scene of the ‘90s and all those bands … I think it probably came through in some regards.

Ryan: Going back to Pearl Jam, something that blew us away is the commitment from their audience to them, which I think we can maybe relate to a little bit. We've got people lining up.

Eli: And they just play, like, two and a half hour long gigs and change up the setlist every night.

Ryan: And apparently they've got a list of 70 something songs, and they just choose, like “Okay, we're doing that one.” 

Eli: They can play every single one of them amazingly. 

Ryan: We'd love to get to that level of omnipotent musicianship that we could just out of nowhere choose something. Obviously, we'd have to be going for another 30 years or something and have like 10 albums under [our] belts. 

Eli: I feel like they were amazing when they were younger than us, though. 

Ryan: Oh God, yeah, we're amateurs. Yeah, we've got a lot of practice to do still.

Your fanbase has only grown since opening for those artists. What do you want fans both old and new to take away from your ‘Open Wide’ tour?

Ryan: Connection, I suppose.

Eli: Yeah, I think that's it. That's what we love to do. We feel like we've done a good job when we come off stage feeling like we've connected with people and that everybody in there felt something more than, “Oh, I'm just going to see a band play.” That's when we feel fulfilled because it can become quite robot-like, just playing every night. But if we can have every night feel different and like something special [has happened] … I think that's really important. Yeah, what Ryan said, connection. That's what we want to do.

And finally, what’s next for Inhaler? Where do you hope to take your sound in the future?

Ryan: Hopefully Tom gets us a Grammy. No, I’m joking. We're pretty much going to be touring until the end of this year. And as for [the] music that comes next, I don't know. There's a couple ideas that I have started knocking around in the last week, just like late night bus laptop sessions. We never really know, and that's the excitement.

Eli: Touring, yeah, we just love doing it. So anything that keeps us on the road.

Ryan: Tickets on sale now everybody!

This interview has been minimally edited for clarity and length.

Listen to Inhaler on Spotify and Apple Music, and see the band on tour.