HEAVY Music Interviews

Interview by Jimmy Glinster and Kris Peters Knotfest Australia 2025 swept through Brisbane and Melbourne last weekend, and has just one show remaining before returning home for another 12 months. As expected, it was a bumper day filled with too many highlights to mention right now, but rest assured HEAVY made sure you get the story of the experience from the mouths of this behind the scenes making...

Interview by Jimmy Glinster and Kris Peters Knotfest Australia 2025 swept through Brisbane and Melbourne last weekend, and has just one show remaining before returning home for another 12 months. As expected, it was a bumper day filled with too many highlights to mention right now, but rest assured HEAVY made sure you get the story of the experience from the mouths of this behind the scenes making...

Interview by Kris Peters AFI are coming! Formed in 1991 by California high school students Davey Havok (vocals) and Adam Carson (drums, backing vocals), AFI (short for A Fire Inside) began as a hardcore act. After gaining traction in the Bay Area scene and releasing their 1995 debut, Answer That and Stay Fashionable, the band signed to Nitro Records—the legendary incubator for some of punk’s bigge...

Interview by Kris Peters British metalcore giants Architects have released their eagerly awaited new studio album The Sky, The Earth & All Between via Epitaph Records. This is the band's 11th studio album, with singles like Whiplash delivering an intense fusion of power and stadium-swaying melody, offering a tantalizing preview of the album, along with songs like Seeing Red and Curse, with tho...

Interview by Angela Croudace In our interview with Tobias Sammet, the frontman of power metal giants Avantasia, he revealed exciting insights into the band’s upcoming album, Here Be Dragons, and shared his personal experiences shaping the music. With the new record set to be released soon, Sammet spoke candidly about the band’s evolving sound, future touring plans, and creative process. Though fan...

Words by Kris Peters Knotfest throws up so many sonic moments of metal fury each year, but one of the lesser known - but equally as interesting - parts of the travelling music festival is the Knotfest Museum. Assembled from a massive collection of Slipknot memorabilia from the entirety of the bands' history, the Knotfest Museum is a treasure trove of goodness for the discerning Maggot, and even th...

Words by Kris Peters Two of the all-time punk greats have returned to Australia, with pioneering California dynamos PENNYWISE and beloved Swedish trailblazers MILLENCOLIN touched down and ready to co-headline a huge run Down Under. A band synonymous with punk rock and thought-provoking lyricism, PENNYWISE erupted out of the vibrant coastal setting of Hermosa Beach in California with their self-tit...

Words by Angela Croudace After nearly a decade, Motion City Soundtrack is heading back to Australia, ready to light up stages with their energetic performances. HEAVY caught up with bassist Matt Taylor and guitarist Josh Cain to discuss the tour, their new music, and the exciting moments ahead. "It's been 10 years, we're really ready to come back," Matt grins. "It's great to get some sunshine down...

Interview by Kris Peters Canadian metal outfit Kittie returned with a vengeance recently after a 13-year hiatus. Crashing onto the scene in 1999 with their debut album Spit, Kittie evolved far beyond their nu-metal origins, developing a crushing, full-fledged metal sound across six albums. They were a mainstay on the scene until taking a layoff which was to last over a decade. After their prolonge...

Interview by Angela Croudace One of the architects of The Gothenburg Sound, Dark Tranquillity are about to storm Australian shores for the first time in over a decade, delivering three exclusive shows in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. The masters of melodic death metal emerged from Sweden’s west coast in the early '90s, alongside titans like In Flames, At The Gates, and Soilwork. Known for their...

Interview by Kris Peters Burton C Bell is a name synonymous with metal. Fresh off his induction into the prestigious Metal Hall of Fame, Burton continues to solidify his legacy as a trailblazer of industrial metal. Renowned for his groundbreaking role in Fear Factory, the extreme music pioneer, multimedia talent, and iconoclastic provocateur resurrects his legacy and forward-thinking destiny, rema...

Interview by Kris Peters Ripper Owens has returned to Australia, but this time he is on his own. Not literally, of course, but for the first time in recent memory, Ripper comes Down Under with a clean slate and no pre-existing musical obligations by way of bands and/or collaborations. As such he is free to pull songs from a vast and varied network spent fronting iconic acts including Judas Priest,...

Interview by Kris Peters Photo credit ALI NASSERI December 2023 saw the end of an era of live music that reinvigorated the entire Sydney music scene and spread that love throughout the rest of the country. For 10 years, Frankies Pizza was the cornerstone of the Sydney live music hub, bringing a swag of international bands through its doors as well as giving Australian acts of all genres and career...

Interview by Kris Peters Right before the turn of the century, casual jam sessions between a group of friends unassumingly lit the fuse for an insane 25-year ride to follow… Hailing from Western Massachusetts (where the only thing icier than the freeway in winter is the blunt sense of humour shared by the locals), Killswitch Engage — Adam Dutkiewicz [guitar], Joel Stroetzel [guitar], Mike D’Antoni...

Interview by Angela Croudace Photo Credit: Erik Ohlsson, Magnus Larnhed Two of the all-time punk greats will be returning to Australia with pioneering California dynamos PENNYWISE and beloved Swedish trailblazers MILLENCOLIN set to co-headline a huge run down under. For over 30 years, Swedish icons MILLENCOLIN have vividly put punk on the map. With their original line up still intact since forming...

Interview by Angela Croudace After spending years as a fan, Chris Cresswell now finds himself on stage with Hot Water Music. "Being able to join one of your favourite bands is not something that happens every day," he says. The vocalist and guitarist of both Hot Water Music and The Flatliners knows what it's like to respect the music and the artists behind it. His journey into Hot Water Music, a b...

Interview by Kris Peters With their new album A Sonication, Germany-based metal band OBSCURA launch the second of their trilogy concept. The group’s second (seventh overall) album for Nuclear Blast pivots on many fronts. Advanced, elegant yet refreshing, A Sonication sums up past endeavors effortlessly as it gazes with purpose and conviction into the future. OBSCURA are fan-renowned and critically...

Interview by Kris Peters Black Rheno seem to be on a bit of a tear at the moment. Last year, they toured the country with their own headline shows, packing out venues and even supported the mighty Pantera. Then, in November, they dropped their first single in a couple of years, Snake Will Rattle. Now, just a few months on, the guys are back with a stack of fresh tour dates, more new music, and vid...

Interview by Kris Peters Rising Brisbane metal outfit Engraved have awoken from their slumber and come out snarling with the release of their new single The Fallen. Described as a song that "amplifies everything Engraved fans love", The Fallen takes aim at toxic people in the music industry and their questionable motives. With a stable line-up finally in place, Engraved are looking to cement their...

Interview by Kris Peters Wowsers!  Behold human pirates of the southern lands, ALESTORM have set their compass this way for their next expedition to the other side of the world to regale us all with their super infectious blend of modern folk and power metal. With their well-renowned A game PARTY prepped and packed, they’ll be stuffing the galley full of inflatable ducks, kilts, a hurdy-gurdy play...

Interview by Kris Peters California based party starters Drain have had a love affair with Australia ever since making their debut visit as support to Comeback Kid in early 2023. So much so that the band has been here once a year since then, and is set to continue that trend when they hit our shores as part of New Bloom Festival with Balance & Composure from March 8. Not only that, the good ti...

Interview by Kris Peters The D4 are storming the East Coast — louder, wilder, and more combustible than ever! With the FIRST EVER VINYL pressing of sophomore album Out Of My Head dropping February 7, 2025, NZ’s finest punk n’ rollers will be hitting Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne in the company of some of Australia’s most beloved rockin’ outfits early 2025. The D4 are running hot from a riotous,...

Interview by Kris Peters Many artists have written about their struggles with mental health, but how many have written songs that actually sound like a mental crisis? That notion was exactly what Martin Jackson from Confyde set out to do when writing the songs for his latest three-track EP A Cowards Stitches, which was released today. Written in the aftermath of a relationship break-up, Jackson fo...

Interview by Kris Peters Sydney stoner, sludge, doom outfit Bifter have done their time playing the traps live and have set 2025 as the year to showcase their music to the world. April will see their conceptually based album First Impressions Of Hell unleashed on the world, and to kick start the album cycle the band have elected to share the band's lead single March Of The Imp as an appetiser befo...

Interview by Kris Peters Forming in Melbourne, Florida, BODYSNATCHER deal in all things dark, furious and sonically threatening extreme music. Combining crushing breakdowns with eerie ambience, scathing riffs and grisly grooves, the band have become synonymous with “heavy,” invoking violence in every city they happen to visit, spawning mosh pits that leave nothing but craters in their wake. Proudl...