HEAVY Music Interviews

Interview by Kris Peters Melbourne industrial titans Witchgrinder released their highly anticipated third album, Nothing Stays Buried. Once more revolving around horror and the macabre, Nothing Stays Buried is a meaty slab of intent from the Australian outfit, furthering the promise shown on Witchgrinder's two earlier albums but magnifying it even further. Since the release of their debut album in...

Interview by Kris Peters Australian blues/rock outfit Beasts Of Bourbon have been a mainstay of the Aussie music scene for over 40 years, blending a blues-infused swagger with sleazy rock and tonnes of attitude to create a musical aura that is as much about the musicians who make up the band as it is the music itself. Originally formed with James Baker on drums (ex-Hoodoo Gurus, The Scientists), S...

Interview by Kris Peters Since their inception in 1991 US rock outfit Incubus have defied the laws and conventions of music by shading outside the lines and creating their own brand of sonic retribution. Their music was different and experimental, while still maintaining a rock-infused underbelly that provided a meaty backbone that stood tall through a myriad of musical disparities that combined t...

Following a recent successful tour of Australia with Northlane, metalcore legends ERRA are now readying for the release of their new album Cure, which is released on April 5. HEAVY spoke with the band just before their Brisbane show at Fortitude Music Hall. VIDEO WAS FILMED LIVE FROM SOUNDCHECK SO SOUND QUALITY MAY FLUCTUATE Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heav...

Interview by Kris Peters Melbourne metalcore/deathcore/techdeath outfit Roswell DeathSquad have been making waves since the release of their debut album Welcome Home in January this year. Which isn't surprising given the pedigree of musicians within the band's ranks. Featuring past and present members of Festation, Harlott, Carthus, Mistress of Misery and Fear the Fallen, Roswell DeathSquad have n...

Interview by Kris Peters CVLTFEST came to Brisbane’s Eaton’s Hill Hotel recently, bringing with it a tornado of hard rock and metal performed by some of this country’s headline bands as well as some that should one day attain that status themselves. But it wasn’t just a celebration of Australian music, with organisers Alpha Wolf assembling a strong volley of international acts from Japan – Crossfa...

Interview by Kris Peters It's hard to believe any international band could have been around long enough to earn legendary status yet not have toured this country before. Not that Australians feel entitled or big-headed and therefore expect such bands to tour here - quite the opposite. It's more because Australians generally need some form of tangible connection with a band or musician before being...

Interview by Kris Peters Experimental metal outfit Locrian are counting down the days until the release of their new album End Terrain on April 5. Officially endorsed as the proper follow-up to 2015's Infinite Dissolution, End Terrain sees Locrian return to the sounds that defined the earlier part of their music, more experimental and forthright than previous album New Catastrophism while still ma...

Interview by Kris Peters One of the lesser known wonders of the travelling Knotfest music extravaganza is the Knotfest Museum. An extension of the music program, the Knotfest Museum is more than a distraction tacked on as an afterthought.  Much more. Everything on display is 100% genuine Slipknot, with the band members offering up personal items to be showcased as well as perfectly curated extras...

Interview by Kris Peters On the eve of their Australian tour, Infectious Grooves pulled one final punch when they announced former Slipknot drummer Jay Weinberg into a band that already includes Mike Muir, Dean Pleasants (Suicidal Tendencies) and Rob Trujillo (Metallica). Not that Infectious Grooves rest their musical output on the pedigree of musicians from popular bands. They never have. But add...

Interview by Kris Peters Brisbane metal outfit Ancient Remains understand the ethos of more is better, consistently churning out new material in an attempt to engage with as many people as possible. Their most recent effort is the crushing four-track EP Burn It All, which came out on March 13. Ancient Remains draw influences from bands such as Metallica, Lamb of God, Pantera, Slipknot, Parkway dri...

Interview by Kris Peters Photo credit Jeffrey Graham Photography Knotfest Australia 2024 is less than a week away, and despite boasting bands of the calibre of Lamb Of God, Disturbed, Halestorm, Skindred and more, the band on everyone’s lips is Pantera. After getting back together last year for some live shows - with Zakk Wylde filling guitarist duties and Charlie Benante on the drums – the new-lo...

Interview by Kris Peters Let's face it, coming up with something fresh and unique when it comes to music and the music world is almost impossible these days. With more music at our disposal than ever before meaning a multitude of new bands and artists all clamouring to find their share of the market, it takes something truly special to give you that edge. And sometimes that edge is the difference...

Interview by Kris Peters Rising from the ashes of the grunge era, Melbourne rock outfit Cicadastone have spent just over ten years refining their sound amid a musical revolution that saw their style of music shunned from mainstream darlings to backseat troublemakers. Following their 2016 debut Chance Collide, Cicadastone found strength in the fact that although grunge-infused rock was generally on...

Interview by Kris Peters LA based alternative artist Lil Lotus recently unleashed his second album Nosebleeder via Epitaph Records, building on the promise shown on his debut effort ERRØR BØY. Nosebleeder sees Lotus collaborating across the sphere of alternative music, including Mod Sun, Sophie Powers, Alexis Munroe and kennedyxoxo. Determined not to be restricted by any one genre or subgenre, Lil...

Interview by Kris Peters Halestorm took the world by storm towards the end of 2022 with the release of their fifth studio album, Back From The Dead. A rock album in every sense of the word, Back From The Dead drew a fresh generation of fans to Halestorm's side with its harder edge and attitude-stained delivery. That album saw Halestorm tour relentlessly, hitting Australia in early 2023 before domi...

Interview by Kris Peters In the modern age of short attention spans, it is refreshing to see some bands still operating by the tried and true laws of yesteryear when it comes to releasing music. With EP's and singles all the rage, Perth metal outfit All This Filth elected to take their time with their recently released album Tomorrow Will Be Better?, dropping the first single Still Bleeds My Heart...

Interview by Nev Pearce from the Everblack Podcast For over three decades the name Carcass has been synonymous with death metal. The band - who are credited for inventing gore/grind and creating the template for melodic death metal - have not ventured to this side of the world for a number of years but are about to make up for lost time when they hit Australia and New Zealand with The Black Dahlia...

Interview by Erin Eddy Finnish gothic rock legend Ville Valo is gearing up for an electrifying return to the Australian and New Zealand stages after a decade-long hiatus. With his debut solo album Neon Noir still reverberating through the music scene, Valo took some time to chat with HEAVY Mag about his latest ventures and the eagerly awaited tour. Valo delved into the creative process behind Neon...

Interview by Kris Peters Making any kind of a splash in the ferociously brilliant wading pool that is Finnish metal is an arduous task, made even more so by the pedigree of bands gone before and the talent of those emerging. The metal scene has always been strong in that part of the world, and although there are a large number of Finnish bands recognised on the international scene (Amorphis, Lordi...

Interview by Kris Peters While many bands proclaim to be the real deal when it comes to punk rock, very few can say so definitively. Punk rock is/has and never will be a style of music that caters to the masses or measures itself on facts and figures. It is more music for the outcasts and disenfranchised who have little in common except for a united love of a brand of music that knows no boundarie...

Interview by Kris Peters Fifty years of servitude in any industry is a great achievement, but fifty years in the music industry is something special. In an industry that rewards only when you have something of value to offer, bands are churned through the machine at a rapid rate of knots. Yesterday's heroes can quickly become tomorrow's nobodies with everything from changing fashions to styles to...

Interview by Kris Peters As much as music and finding success in the industry is largely about talent, the occasional bit of good fortune or right place right time ethos certainly helps. Melbourne synthwave outfit Dark Water discovered this last week when they were announced as national support for Ville Valo on his upcoming Australian shows. The call-up came as a shock to the band, who just two y...

Interview by Kris Peters 25 years ago, an album by an Australian punk outfit started making ripples in the music scene that quickly turned into rips in the very fabric of music. It typified the Australian laconic sense of humour and general apathy towards anything even remotely resembling authority, and would go on to become a landmark in Australian music history. It didn't help that the title was...

Interview by Kris Peters After taking a couple of years to fully find their feet again after a prolonged absence, Aussie funk/rock/metal dance machine Mammal are finally ready to unleash their second full-length album on the world with the release of The Penny Drop on March 6. After disbanding in the same year their debut album The Majority shocked our airwaves in 2008, the members of Mammal all v...