Photos: THE HAILS Release DUCKPOND Album, Launch Tour in Atlanta

The Hails have released their sophomore album, Duckpond, via ONErpm. Produced by Brandon Shoop (Role Model, Dijon, Junior Varsity), this new chapter from the band is marked by physically being in the room together — easier said than done with the band members spread out across Miami, DC and Brooklyn. The Hails rented a house in South Florida last summer to build a space with the sole intention of writing and recording a cohesive body of work.

Trying to make a living from art under late-stage capitalism can feel disillusioning at best, and farcical at worst. In the music videos for their new record, The Hails play a gang of 1930s bowling alley pinsetters, a job so long lost to automation that it feels like an obscure relic of another era — not far from what being a band in 2026 can feel like. That sense of obsolescence, and the more generalized malaise brought on by cost-of-living crises, miserable jobs and mind-numbing social media discourse, drove the writing of Duckpond. It's an album about not being satisfied — whether personally, professionally, or societally — with scraps.

'It may seem like this album wants to shake its fist at the world,' says guitarist Dylan McCue. 'But really, it wants to find beauty and levity in unlikely places and remind itself of the power of human connection in an increasingly large and distant world.'

For Duckpond, the band wanted to recover the camaraderie and lightness that was lost in their move from university into adulthood. Lead singer Robbie Kingsely shared, 'The process for this record was a way for us to tap back into our roots. We made a rental house in South Florida feel and sound like our college house that birthed our first tunes. We always kept the tapes running for spontaneous jams and fully collaborative writing, but this time with much more seasoned playing and production skills. There's something special about this album that feels like the power of those kids in Gainesville had much more to say after working in the real world.'

'I was like, we cannot bring a single second of audio that did not come from this house when we're all here. This needs to be holy and sacred, the way that we're creating,' Franco Solari (guitar/keys/vocals) recounts. McCue adds, 'We grew a lot as songwriters over those COVID years. So to come back to our original process, with the new skillset and the new knowledge that we'd all developed over the years, was really exciting and rewarding for us.'

In August 2025, the band flew to LA to record with Shoop. He encouraged The Hails to stick close to their roots: 'He was like, 'Where are the guitars? You guys are a rock band, let's bring that out of you,'' Kingsley says. And he did, on tracks like the moody, Fontaines D.C.-inspired 'Digital Life,' the stomping stoner-rock 'Timely,' and the swaggering '90s-esque closing banger 'Ducks on the Pond.'

'I had become a bit of a laptop nerd, automating like six plugins to make some sound that's never existed before. I think Brandon was kind of the voice of, 'Just play guitar, you loser,'' jokes Solari. 'He instilled some confidence back into the band which had kinda been buried,' says Kingsley.

More than ever, The Hails are unashamed to wear their influences on their sleeve. There are the ever-present ones: Arctic Monkeys, The Strokes, Talking Heads. Then there are the more surprising shades that brush the record. Maroon 5 and D'Angelo drove the woozy R&B guitars and sweetly crooned vocals of 'Fool.' David Bowie haunts the cocky funk of 'Scampi.' Kingsley was moved by the at-the-time recent passing of Brian Wilson to inject a three-part vocal harmony into the bridge of 'Corruptor.'

The new proximity and spontaneity with which they wrote meant that their day-to-day conversations became the basis of songs. Some tracks, like the fizzy lead single 'Story of You and Me' and the bouncy 'Corruptor,' deal with the trials and tribulations of long-term romance; 'Vegas, Idaho' is about the transience of life on the road. Yet other songs zoom out, examining the many pitfalls and absurdities of modern life. 'Scampi' pokes fun at armchair activists with half-baked solutions for the world's problems; 'Digital Life' decries social media-induced alienation; 'Ducks on the Pond' mocks the predatory gambling companies that a generation of young men are in the grip of. Some songs bite particularly hard. 'Timely' sneers at grifter landlords and 'All by Design' is a mournful call for class solidarity. The song ends with the reminder, 'Life's a rush when you know you've got time / Now life is short and it's all by design.'

On Duckpond, The Hails have created something that they can truly say they're proud of, no matter the stress and the pressure that is piled on by just trying to keep surviving as a band. 'I think this is as creatively vulnerable and liberated as we've been in a very long time,' McCue affirms. 'It was something that was created completely all together,' Kingsley adds. 'It really feels like this is truly what The Hails have to offer. This isn't what Robbie plus a few guys or Franco plus a few guys has to offer — this is what these collective guys known as The Hails are trying to offer together.'

After wrapping up a run of shows supporting Ax and the Hatchetmen, The Hails are kicking off their headline Duckpond Tour this week. Highlights include Brooklyn, NY's Elsewhere (Oct. 29), Echoplex in LA (Nov. 14), and a return to their home state of Florida for shows in Miami (Nov. 20) and Tampa (Nov. 21). Along the way, The Hails will be supported by The Ocho, Meldrop and Cannibal Kids.

THE HAILS LIVE 2026

October 25 - Atlanta, GA - Purgatory at Masquerade

October 27 - Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle

October 28 - Washington, DC - The Atlantis

October 29 - Brooklyn, NY - Elsewhere - Hall

October 30 - Cambridge, MA - The Sinclair

November 2 - Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall

November 5 - Denver, CO - Marquis

November 7 - Salt Lake City, UT - Metro Music Hall

November 10 - Seattle, WA - Barboza

November 11 - Portland, OR - Mission Theater

November 13 - San Francisco, CA - Rickshaw Stop

November 14 - Los Angeles, CA - Echoplex

November 16 - Phoenix, AZ - Valley Bar

November 20 - Miami, FL - ZeyZey

November 21 - Tampa, FL - The Orpheum

Tracklist

1. Bad Habits

2. Fool

3. Story of You and Me

4. Digital Life

5. Pack It Up

6. Corruptor

7. Vegas, Idaho

8. Scampi

9. Necessary

10. Mahou

11. Timely

12. All By Design

13. The Party's Over

14. Ducks on the Pond

Photo Credit: Andreo Otiniano