HEAVY Music Interviews

While many people and critics hail certain albums as being pivotal or defining in terms of musical genres or movements, the reality is that, while undeniably a great album, whatever they are referring to was just that. A great album at a time where a musical genre was earning its stripes.But every now and then - usually with the test of time - an album stands out in their particular field of metal. An album that really did help shape and refine a movement that was later to become a genre. An album that, decades after its release, is still hailed as a masterpiece and rightfully so.One such album is Broke from HED (PE). 25 years ago an up and coming rap/metal outfit called HED (PE) had already announced themselves with their self-titled debut album, but it was the release of Broke in 2000 that really catapulted the band up the rankings. Featuring Serj Tankian (System of a Down) and Morgan Lander (Kittie) as guest artists, Broke spawned the singles Bartender, Killing Time, and Feel Good, fusing rap, funk, hip hop and metal like never before and playing a huge part in the early development of nu metal.The album has resonated with fans the world over for the last two and a half decades, and Australian audiences will get the chance to share in the beauty of Broke when HED (PE) head to this side of the world next February to celebrate the album's anniversary.HEAVY sat down with frontman Jahred Gomes to get up to speed. One of the questions was if it was difficult learning the whole album, taking into account when it was written it wasn't done with the intention of playing the whole album in the future."No, it wasn't difficult," he recalled, "but you know, at PE, we've got some really long songs. So sometimes in the live setting, we do more medleys so we can play a bunch of shit. I imagine when the show comes out there'll be some songs played in full, some songs that we just touch on, but we want to make it exciting for people. We've got some tricks that we're going to be doing. It's different. It's 25 years later, so it's got more of a straight-ahead, thrashy punk rock vibe now than it did back then."In the full interview, Jahred discussed the significance of Broke, reflecting on its themes of financial and emotional struggles, its impact on the band's rise to fame, and the evolution of their songwriting. He acknowledged some lyrics he now finds regrettable but expressed comfort in performing the older songs. He also shared his excitement about touring with Nonpoint, highlighting the importance of supporting friends in the music industry and more.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.

21 Marras 9min

Interview by Ali WilliamsLA Outfit BLVD OF EYES have just released their latest single We Are Human, and are about to kick off their Australian Tour on November 21 in Melbourne to coincide with the release of their EP on the same day.Founder and leading lady of the band Chloe Trujillo caught up with HEAVY Mags Ali Williams on the weekend to talk about their upcoming tour and new album drop, amongst other things. Having formed during the pandemic, BLVD OF EYES is the collaborative brainchild of Trujillo and fellow artist Mark Dalbeth. Chloe, who is also the wife of Metallica’s Rob Trujillo, is already in Australia supporting her husband as he tours with Metallica, in the lead up to her own tour. She shares that she has a genuine love for Australia and our people. Having formerly collaborated with other Australian companies such as The Guitar Strap Co, Chloe has formed an instant bond with the place since coming here in support of her husband band tour, Her Aussie connection doesn’t just stop there as her fellow band member and founder Mark Dalbeth is probably best known for being a founder of the Australian band Bellusira.Other band members of BLVD OF EYES alongside Trujillo and Dalbeth are Kevin Hicklin on guitar, and on drums, Lullah Trujillo daughter of Rob and Chloe. Although not joining them on this current tour, their daughter has been drumming for the band since they started back in 2021 and the tender age of 15. See the full interview at the HEAVY channel on Youtube. We Are Human is available now on all streaming platforms and for tour, tickets and event info for BLVD OF EYES go to https://www.blvdofeyes.com/Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.

21 Marras 18min

With their ninth studio album, Another Miracle, landing on November 14 - and an Australian tour commencing May 7, 2026 - Of Mice & Men are stepping boldly into their next era—one defined by emotional depth, creative freedom, and an unshakeable bond with their fans. Drummer Valentino Arteaga speaks about the record with a mix of pride and awe, describing it as a “journey” built on layered soundscapes, soaring melodies, and crushing heaviness. It’s an album meant to be absorbed front to back, not just thrown on a playlist.Self-produced and richly textured, Another Miracle reflects a band continually pushing their own boundaries. Valentino compares its intricate sonic layers to “ten wedding cakes stacked on top of each other,” each one representing experimentation, growth, and the group’s ever-expanding musical vocabulary. Songs were crafted during a period of major life changes, including frontman Aaron Pauley discovering he was about to become a father, which brought a new emotional dimension to the writing.Valentino’s current favourite track, Troubled Water, mirrors the album’s dynamic energy with groove-driven drumming and bold performances. Yet he insists each song offers something different: “With Of Mice & Men, there’s something for everybody.”Despite their evolution, one thing remains firmly intact; their connection to fans. Community is at the heart of their legacy, and it’s something the band is determined to honour. “When you come to an Of Mice & Men show, you’re there with family,” Valentino says. That spirit will follow them to Australia in May 2026, where they’ll tour with genre-blurring heavyweights Crystal Lake for what promises to be an explosive run of shows.With Another Miracle, Of Mice & Men aren’t just reinventing their sound, they’re reaffirming why their music continues to resonate so deeply after 16 years: honesty, passion, and a commitment to constant elevation.OF MICE & MEN + CRYSTAL LAKE May 2026 Australian Tour DatesTuesday 5th May - PERTH, Magnet HouseThursday 7th May - ADELAIDE, Lion Arts FactoryFriday 8th May - MELBOURNE, 170 RussellSaturday 9th May - SYDNEY, Manning BarSunday 10th May - BRISBANE, The TriffidTickets: https://thephoenix.au/of-mice-men-2026/Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.

18 Marras 32min

Sometimes a band comes along that manages to transcend the normal parameters of heavy music. A band who has all the elements to be labelled as such, but also displays enough emotional resonance and accessibility to allow their music to seep through into other markets as well.With a self coined phrase calling their music 'sad rock', Southern Californian outfit Dayseeker have proudly evolved from post-hardcore upstarts to a band whose sound sits somewhere between that genre and many more, defiantly allowing their emotions to dictate proceedings but still spicing things up with moments of heaviness that in lesser hands would work against them.Having recently released their sixth full length album Creature In The Black Night, Dayseeker have grown musically once more, delivering their most immersive and intentional record to date — eerie, cinematic, and threaded with a dark emotional current. It is a deeply personal experience for vocalist Rory Rodriguez, but one which he feels is essential in his own personal development as well as that of the bands. Dayseeker will be bringing their music to Australia early next month for all three Good Things Festival shows, as well as two select sideshows in Melbourne and Brisbane. HEAVY sat down with Rodriguez recently to talk about the new album and their upcoming Australian shows. We start by asking if the band is packed and ready to go with the Australian tour looming large."I think so," he smiled. "It's a little nerve wracking because we unfortunately parted ways with our guitar player very recently. We have a good friend of ours who is gonna be filling in for us, so these are our first shows with him. We're trying to get rehearsed and make sure that everything's good and that our live show stays intact. We really care about our live show being good, so other than that, we are really excited about coming to play."We mention there's no pressure at all having a debut gig in front of 50,000 people, to which Rory lets out a laugh. "Yeah. I feel worse for him. I think we get a warm-up show for a side show in Melbourne so he will get to play to 900 people and then jump times fifty for the festivals (laughs). He's a pro, though, He's gonna do great."In the full interview, Rory talks more about their live shows and what we can expect, highlighting the differences between outdoor and indoor gigs. He ran us through three songs Good Things punters can listen to if they aren't that familiar with Dayseeker, plus the diversity of the line-up and how that is a good thing for festivals.We talked about the just released Creature In The Black Night and the early response, what Dayseeker were going for musically on album number six and how it is their most immersive album to date. He dove deeper into the lyrical content of the album and whether it is an album of hope or despair, how singing about his problems has worked over time and more.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.

18 Marras 13min

Armed with undeniably some of the heaviest riffs known to mankind, DYING FETUS have established a reputation for uncompromising integrity with a slew of classic albums, and today ride a resurgence of respect and esteem with a new generation. After 12 horribly long years since their last tour in Australia and in only their second appearance in New Zealand since 2009, DYING FETUS are well overdue to lash us unmercifully this December with their savage beat downs and earth-moving grooves and grunt, equally designed to pulverize and mesmerize. And smash us they shall, but to find out just how they plan to do that, HEAVY sat down to chat with bass player Sean Beasley. One of the things we ask about is the well-known ferocity of Dying Fetus's mosh pits and what it looks like from stage."Yeah, it's always different," Beasley smiled. "You never know with big festivals or whatever. That's when you see it, like, oh shit, somebody might get hurt out there. Usually, people get hurt when they fall over the railing instead of being in the pit, you know?"We also address the fact that the band have not toured Australia for well over a decade, and ask cheekily why they have neglected their fans here for so long."I don't know, to tell you the truth," he replied, laughing. "It just hasn't worked out. We haven't been back to Southeast Asia either, so for some reason that hasn't worked out. It's been this long, which is really surprising to me. I had to look it up and was, like, damn, when was the last time we were there (laughs), and then I had a look and realized it's been that long!"In the full interview, Sean talks more about the tour and what we can expect from Dying Fetus. He runs through what has changed with the band in between visits, including new albums and how much attention they will be getting in the set list.We praise him on the selection of 200 Stab Wounds as support, talking about this being their first tour of Australia and how they will adapt. The excellently graphic tour poster is discussed, along with more on the mosh pits in the crowd, new music and more.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.

14 Marras 9min

Entering album number ten, the all-encompassing sonic realm inhabited by Swedish musical enigma Avatar looked set to face the band's biggest personal hurdle to date. Very much a band who have proudly proclaimed their intention to maintain musical growth from day one, Avatar were forced to confront the critical and commercial success of the wildly entertaining album Dance Devil Dance. While most bands would welcome such success, it also forced Avatar to take stock of their music and career.This is a band who have steadfastly refused to become a parody of themselves, forsaking convention and expectation in pursuit of their own musical vision from where the sonic Garden Of Eden would forever bunker down. But the temptation would surely have been there. The temptation to possibly rehash whatever winning formula was at the core of Dance Devil Dance's success and squeeze that metaphorical cash cow while the milk was still fresh and creamy.So what did they do on their recently released follow-up, Don't Go In The Forest?They did exactly what long-term fans of the band and the band themselves would have expected and basically raised their middle fingers in the air in an act of defiance to the Metal Gods, who felt they had paved the way for Avatar to continue their journey unabated to the upper layers of the global music empire.While understandably retaining certain elements of what was created on Dance Devil Dance, Avatar more took the challenge of continuing their sonic evolution, exploring new and unchartered ideas personally. Maybe not outwardly, but certainly in the dark recesses of their brain, the band vowed to stick by their word. Stick by their mantra, their fans, but most importantly themselves. What they created was pure musical genius of unrestrained creativity that is perfectly represented by the intentionally sporadic and unexpected turn taken over the very first few songs on Don't Go In the Forest and only gets more disturbed from there.HEAVY was given the opportunity to journey into the creative mind of Avatar frontman and mastermind Johannes Eckerström and relished the chance to put some sense to the engulfing madness."The first couple of weeks is transpositional in the sense that you are a writer; you're a performer, we're a bunch of stuff, right?" he more stated than asked the question. "And release, as in putting something out, that word has a double meaning. Because release also means letting go. And as far as the writer in us goes, it's done. It's gone forever. It doesn't belong to us anymore, it belongs to everybody."We mention that it must be hard to emotionally let go of a body of work that has dominated their world for such a large period of time."There's a thing I do for myself...," Johannes measured, choosing his words carefully. "Ever since going back to the Black Waltz, because that album started an... I don't know... a quarter-life crisis kind of place in our lives, at least speaking for myself and John (Alfredsson, drummer). We had a powerful moment of that around that time, which, long story short, led to us really thinking, 'okay, this is the last album. Fuck it.' And that mindset of this is the last album, fuck it, I've tried to keep that ever since. I mean, I have some kind of confidence in that we will get to do another one (laughs), but it's always that question. If this were to be the last album, would I be okay with that? Did we achieve what we want to achieve here? If the world hates it, did we do enough to be at peace with that? And yes, I am. So, yeah, I have that little mental exercise or whatever you want to call it to deal with exactly that."In the full interview, Johannes spoke deeper about the musical side of Don't Go In The Forest, including the deliberately eclectic nature of the music and the way they approached the order of the songs on the album. We discussed the singles released and the thought process that goes into their selection, and the ways in which Avatar go against usual industry practices when it comes to everything about their music.Johannes explained the creative vision of Avatar and the importance of continual progress and experimentation within their music, their place in the sonic universe, creating an all-encompassing music experience for themselves and the listener and Avatar's perpetual quest for musical enlightenment.We explored the importance and meanings behind the album title and took a look inside the theatrical nature of the band and their music, discovering even more layers and complexities in Avatar and their quest. As if we needed to go down that rabbit hole…Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.

12 Marras 27min

The main common thread that ties music and comedy together is timing, not that it works every time. While there and many - some would say the majority - of musicians out there who THINK they are funny, once the alcohol and/or adrenaline wears off, what they thought funny 20 minutes ago is suddenly now lame at best.But occasionally the transition between two very different forms of artists' works seamlessly. Artists like Weird 'Al' Yankovic, Stephen Lynch and Jack Black spring immediately to mind when talking about people who have performed at high quality across both professions, but there have also been some riotous failures - but we won't go into that for fear we, too, might be accused of overstepping the line.If you had have asked me a couple of weeks ago how I thought Five Finger Death Punch's bass player Chris Kael would go on the stand-up comedy circuit, I may have mumbled alright, but that would only have been to save my ass if word had got back to him. Then, if you had have suggested an admittedly famous comedian by the name of Craig Gass, who is best known for voicing cartoon characters, chances are I would have tuned out and failed to clock back in.Ask me the same question now after having spent a night interviewing then dining with the pair of them, and you would get an entirely different response. So I guess even the black sheep of the world are not immune to judging a book by its cover…What Kael and Gass may lack aesthetically as a star comedy pairing, they make up for with impeccable timing that has its foundations in mutual respect. The fact that they have lived similar lives in and around the music community definitely helps to keep the conversation flowing, but together this mismatched pair are more like the Golden Goose of the comedy circuit. Their jokes are hilarious, their banter even better, but above all else, both are humble and inspiring people who just happen to have a somewhat concerning panache for a side hustle referred to as DCP. What is DCP, you may ask? Well, have a listen to our conversation, and you will find out the meaning of that unexplained wonder of the world, plus heaps more that you may or may not be emotionally prepared for at this stage of your life. HEAVY sat down for an engaging and entertaining chat with Kael that covered everything from comedy to music to shin chins.We start by asking how the tour has been so far."It's been incredible," Kael purred in his gravel-stained Viking voice. "We had a very short time to be able to promote these shows, so the amount of support that we've had and the amount of people we've got in there in only a week of promoting the show is awesome. We did the stand-up comedy show in Melbourne at The Comics Lounge on Friday night, and then we went to see Metallica on Saturday. That's basically all we're doing. Just funding the Metallica vacation (laughs). I have found ways to make money to be able to travel while off the road with Death Punch. I saw that Metallica was playing over here, so… I am a marketing aficionado. What better way to go out and see my old friends in Metallica? Because we toured with them the last couple of years, going all around the world, but we're working on a new record right now, so this gave me the opportunity to come over, see Metallica and get the comedy show going. We had those two shows in Melbourne, and then on November 11 here in Brisbane, we are playing at the Good Chat Comedy Club, doing a show at 7 o'clock and at 8.30 pm. Me and Craig - Craig Gass is a stand-up comedian. An actual stand-up comedian. Not a bass player who is basically telling stories about life on the road. He's been doing it for about 25 years and has been on The King Of Queens and the Howard Stern Show. A funny story about Craig - well, I don't know whether it's funny or not because it's his story - but when he was growing up, he was the only person in his family who could hear. His entire family is deaf, except for him. So I'm helping him with his acting these days. We're both gonna be doing some stand-up comedy here at Good Chats. 7 o'clock and 8.30 on November 11, and we're just having a really good time with it. This has been nice for me. The whole thing started when Craig gave me the opportunity to do some stand-up shows with him. I was originally going to write stories. I wanted to be either a musician or an author when I was growing up. The musician part… I get paid to play bass, so I guess that makes me a musician… but that's already happened, so I was gonna write a book about growing up in Kentucky and being able to come up from Lexington, Kentucky, to these worldwide stages. I mean, I'm right next to where Metallica is playing, and we have toured the world with Metallica. All my favourite bands. Judas Priest. We've been out with those guys. So, just coming from a small town in Kentucky, all the stuff that had to happen to get me where I'm at, that I am able to do all this stuff, and then all the craziness that's gone on behind the scenes, being in a hard rock/heavy metal band… I was gonna tell those stories in a book, but now I'm just doing it on stage because I like being able to have that automatic response. I'm an entertainer. Musician, yeah, I guess. But entertainment. That's where I thrive."And that's just the first couple of minutes of our conversation. Over the course of the next 20 minutes, discussion ranges from Shin Chins to Double Comedy Penetration to Gene Simmons to Five Finger Death Punch and pretty much anything and everything in between. If you are reading this in time to make one of the two shows in Brisbane tonight, do yourself a favour and make it happen. But if not, keep an eye out for when next Craig and Chris visit Australia. You won't want to miss them a second time.Tickets and more information www.getgass.comBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.

11 Marras 29min

Interview by Angela CroudaceHalf a century on from his Rabbit days and even longer since fronting the very first line-up of AC/DC, Dave Evans hasn’t slowed down one bit. Celebrating 50 years of Rabbit with the new album Defenders of Rock, the self-proclaimed “King of All Badasses” still lives by the mantra: every song a killer, no song a filler.Speaking to us from Mexico, Evans radiates the same unstoppable energy that’s defined his career. “I’m lucky I went solo years ago,” he says. “I can record with anyone, anywhere in the world. If someone gives me the shits, I just say, ‘See ya later!’” That autonomy, he explains, keeps his fire burning and his fans around the globe ready to rock.Evans credits his longtime collaborator and Rabbit guitarist Mark Tinson, “the king of all riffs,” for the new album’s punchy sound. “Rabbit’s a party band — sexy and tough. The world needs Rabbit right now,” he grins. “No doom and gloom. Just rock and roll, baby.”Reflecting on the early Aussie rock scene, Evans recalls when “getting signed was like being touched by God.” Yet, even as times change, he believes the secret to survival is simple: energy, hooks, and happiness. “I still go out there to make people happy,” he says. “When they leave my show, they’re smiling and that’s what it’s all about.”At 50 years of Rabbit and counting, Dave Evans proves that real rock ’n’ roll never dies — it just keeps getting louder!Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.

11 Marras 25min