HEAVY Music Interviews

Interview by Kris Peters What do you do as you near the twilight of an illustrious music career? Set course for Australia, apparently! After pushing 40 years in the music industry, English alternative rock outfit Pop Will Eat Itself have finally decided to bring their pasty white legs Down Under for the first show of their careers on our shores in February and March of next year. The loveable poms...

Interview by Kris Peters Melbourne metal legends Frankenbok celebrated their 25th anniversary at The Tote on December 12, 2022 in the most positive and emphatic way possible by assembling every one of Frankenbok's many line-ups from over the years to perform songs from their era. It was a unique and highly ambitious project that could have gone off the rails at any juncture, but, to their credit,...

Interview by Kris Peters Gold Coast heavy outfit Kaosphere have been quiet by their standards of late. Once known for their prolific output and presence, Kaosphere decided to reevaluate their goals around 18 months ago and knuckle down with the emphasis of quality of quantity with devastating results. The band recently released the single Chain Breaker, the first of a string of new songs planned f...

Interview by Kris Peters Obituary are deservedly known as one of the pioneering forces behind death metal. In a career spanning almost four decades, the band have redefined the term heavy metal and consistently led through actions, leaving words to go down in history amongst their brutal lyrics. With the band set to invade Australia once more in early 2024, HEAVY had the pleasure of spending some...

Interview by Kris Peters Rising from the ashes of the supposed next big thing, Sparta attacked the music industry as a whole with a point to prove. And prove it they did, releasing their debut album Wiretap Scars in 2002 and almost single-handedly redefining the term experimentation in music as the world had previously known it. When At The Drive-In split in 2001 the music world was left in shock....

Interview by Simon Russell-White It was mid-Summer 2023, yet another balmy night had met us in good old Brisbane town. The Brightside was the venue, and Canada's own Comeback Kid had brought some friends along with them, and yet again it was party time from the get-go! Enter Drain from the sun-drenched beaches of Santa Cruz, California. As this quintet entered stage right that night, my first tast...

Interview by Kris Peters Brisbane rock/metal outfit Torizon have made a triumphant return to music over the last couple of months, re-acquainting themselves with fans with the single Damaged in August before pulverizing them with recent track Martyr. After taking a year off to focus more on what makes Torizon special moreso than how special they could be, the band members returned fresh and with g...

Interview by Kris Peters By sheer virtue of the fact they were hand-picked by Foo Fighters for the Australian support slot, Hot Milk just HAVE to be a good band. But it's not until you sit back and listen to the band that it becomes evident that they are actually shit hot and if the Fooeys hadn't chosen them as support then they probably wouldn't have been doing their job right. Comprised of co-fr...

Interview by Kris Peters It makes sense that someone who is already in a band would also want to dip their toes into promotion and putting on shows themselves, but it's not as easy of a process as you would think. Dealing with bands and booking for bands is another stress level of its own, and often the two - although seemingly perfect bedfellows - are too difficult to negotiate. It takes a specia...

Interview by Kris Peters The expectations placed on new and emerging bands in the modern era surpass any of those from eras gone by. Not only is there the sheer abundance of new music being released on a daily basis, but there is also the proportionately high number of new bands forming at a rate never seen before. Because of this, there is not only competition in the form of bands vying for their...

Interview by Kris Peters Helmet are a niche kind of band in that once you discover them you can't help but fall in love with their music. The problem is, they are also not a band given much exposure in commercial channels, which makes the task of discovering them ultimately harder. But infinitely more rewarding. Formed by Page Hamilton in 1989 - with Hamilton being the sole original member still i...

Interview by Kris Peters The music business can be an unforgiving mistress. Bands can - and do - give it everything they have, writing, recording and releasing high-quality material and developing an ever-growing fanbase yet still see minimal reward for effort. But when the planets align and the wheel starts turning in your favour it can be a beautiful industry and one which suddenly starts giving...

Interview by Kris Peters Much has changed with Metal Church since their last visit to Australian shores. The most notable, and tragic of which being the loss of legendary frontman Mike Howe in 2021. Having pressed on to honour the memory of their former bandmate, Metal Church earlier this year released their first album with new vocalist Marc Lopes titled Congregation of Annihilation, in the proce...

Enter Shikari have been a household name for almost two decades now, their unique blending of genres endearing them to a disenfranchised world starving for change. After the tables were turned during the COVID pandemic, Enter Shikari found themselves floundering without their reliable support network, at a creative loss with seemingly no resolution. Rather than allowing the state of the world to d...

Frenzal Rhomb are as reliable as Grandma's recipe for scones, and probably twice as durable. For more than 30 years now, Australia's masters of punk and ska have gone about their business unchecked, churning out consistently high-quality albums with tongue more than firmly planted in cheek. The lyrics - while relatively easy to digest - are also cutting, honest, raw and delivered with the spite of...

For far too long, heavy metal on the heavier side of the spectrum has been overlooked at music festivals in this country. Even those that claim to be all about the metal generally stop short of having a bona fide, skull-shattering musical representative grace their stages. It happens that often that many have stopped even commenting on the fact, but the diehards have always been watching, waiting...

Interview by Kris Peters Seldom does a fresh band on the scene command instant respect by virtue of past exploits. Music, as with most things in life of value, is more than having the ability to shred on a guitar or crush with your vocal techniques. It requires a certain level of respect and humility that are almost impossible to possess unless you have given your heart and soul to the cause over...

Interview by Kris Peters Punk royalty hits Australia next week when Californian punk legends Pennywise return to our shores as part of Good Things 2023. The lovable larrikins were only out here for a massive headlining run of shows last year, but such is the demand for their musical prowess and undeniable charm the good folk at Good Things have spun their plane straight back around and pointed it...

Interview by Kris Peters Good Things 2023 will be underway next week, with the annual music extravaganza kicking off next Friday, December 1 in Melbourne before hitting Sydney and Brisbane over the following two days. Every year the Good Things line-up manages to top itself, with this year's show being no exception. Headlined by Fall Out Boy and Limp Bizkit, Good Things also welcomes Corey Taylor,...

Interview by Erin Eddy While She Sleeps are just one of the many massive bands that are included in the lineup for this year’s Good Things Festival. As such they will be on Aussie soil as of November 30, kicking off their stint here with a headlining show in Melbourne. HEAVY had the pleasure of chatting with bassist Aaran and vocalist Loz about their impending trip over here, as well as the releas...

Interview by Kris Peters One thing that has always typified Australian music is the internal support system encouraged by those within it. Band members often share their talents amongst two, three, or sometimes four other bands, with his fellow bandmates offering words of encouragement and respect rather than bemoan the fact their guitarist, or their drummer is not exclusively a part of their musi...

Interview by Kris Peters One song can tell a dozen stories and stir even more memories, but there's only so much that can be told in a four-minute window. The real stories, the ones that were happening while the public story was being written, generally remain in the hearts and minds of only those directly involved - and usually with good reason. But now, in an unprecedented move and one which wou...

Interview by Simon Russell-White As the saying goes 'get busy living or get busy dying!' This is certainly true for Greg Puciato, (the living part that is) multi instrumentalist and vocalist for Better Lovers, The Black Queen, Killer Be Killed, Jerry Cantrell's Solo Band, his own Solo band and, of course, vocalist for the now very deceased Dillinger Escape Plan. He is a man with an already disting...

Interview by Kris Peters It is hard to fathom that Seattle rock outfit Candlebox have never toured Australia over the course of their 30-year existence. Since emerging from the popular music location during the mid-90s grunge scene, Candlebox have gone from strength to strength, with a remarkable number of record sales and music streams starting with their 1993 self-titled album which sold over 4...

Interview by Kris Peters One of the most endearing aspects of music is its natural ability to connect on so many levels. For the music lover one song can have a profound effect on your mood or dictate your path to an extent, but on the flip side, from a musician's perspective, music has so much more to offer. While many are content to stick to a limited scope in terms of creative output, others ne...