Niagara band Heavy Hearts releases their new album On a Chain on Friday and say they have some “big things” coming up in the new year.

The alt-rock/emo band is one of the latest bands to break from the area, having recently finished a tour through the U.S., showing off their hard-hitting dissonant style of music and building a fanbase under the music label New Damage Records (part of Dine Alone Records).

Jamie Gorman, bass player, says it’s been “amazing”.

“It was two weeks through the U.S., all cities we had never played before. We got to see a lot of cool things and meet a lot of nice people.”

He says it was two weeks of playing every night and driving for around six hours, and that some of the best memories he has are nights of over-tired laughter in the van, while they tried to get some sleep in a Denny’s parking lot.

“The worst memory was probably needing to replace the alternator half way between Michigan and Chicago,” said Gorman.

He says another gratifying part of heading out and building the fanbase is that they’ve recently seen more people singing along at shows.

“It’s a really neat feeling, knowing that your music has resonated with people. And hearing them throw the words back at you is very cool.”

When asked who snores loudest on tour, Gorman said it’s himself, “hands down.”

As for their new album, Gorman said it has got “definitely some of the best songs we have ever written together.”

“There is still enough of the old sound we have set out over the last few releases I feel, but with a little more of an edge. I can personally hear growth and I’m very excited for these songs to finally be heard.”

Gorman says the band has also got some big things happening for them into the new year.

“Unfortunately we can’t talk about them just yet, but we will be announcing some big things soon.”

The band plays a CD-release show on Friday at The Baby G in Toronto.

You can hear three songs from On a Chain at, heavyheartsband.bandcamp.com.

You can order a copy at, hyperurl.co/OnaChain.