Letting The Skeletons Out Of The Closet With LEIGH KAKATY From POP EVIL

Interview by Kris PetersAussie rock outfit The Poor are living proof that you can never get too much of a good thing.Since redefining our rock senses with their debut album Who Cares in 1994 The Poor have drifted in and out of our musical lives, with a splattering of albums in the ensuing years that for one reason or another lacked that knockout blow the original had in abundance.Fast forward to February 2023 and the release of High Price Deed and the rock clock wound back nearly 30 years in one instance with a triumphant return to the fold that has seen The Poor reclaim all of their former glory and then some.With a hometown show at Vinnies on August 4 plus an Aussie tour with Rose Tattoo in the months after and a return trip to Europe slated for early 2024, The Poor are a band in demand. So much so that we had to actually schedule a chat with drummer Gavin Hansen to find out the magnitude of what is going on."I wouldn't put it in the comeback category," he began, "it's just something we've always done. It's more a sense of having the new inspiration there with Dan (Cox, guitar) and also when someone gets behind you and believes in what you're doing after years and years it gives you that fresh approach and that's what Reckless Records and Scot Crawford did, so that sort of boosted us along."High Price Deed took The Poor sonically back to the days of Who Cares, with the balls out rock style that earned them their stripes back and pumped to 11."The main focus - as every band tries to do - is just capture the live sound and strip it back," Hansen explained of the thought process going into High Price Deed. "And we wanted to keep it as raw as possible but still have something that stands up with what's in the market today. We tried to capture that big sound that we portray live."In the full interview Gavin talks more about the musicality on High Price Deed, the resurgence of The Poor since it came out, news on the follow-up, the possibility of a new version of More Wine Waiter Please surfacing in the future, next year's 30th anniversary of Who Cares, their show at Vinnies on August 4, touring with Rose Tattoo later in the year, returning to Europe and more.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.

20 Jul 202312min

Interview by Kris PetersSince entering the music world back in 2017. Melbourne rock outfit Bad Juju have been steadily honing their craft through a couple of EP's and countless tours.The fruit of those spoils began to ferment last year with the release of their first single from debut album Blue Heaven titled Misery Sticks To Me. This was followed up by The Other Side before Nothing To Give and Raincoat rounded out a diverse selection of brutally raw and honest singles that perfectly encapsulate the feelings conveyed on the full length.The underlying theme woven throughout Blue Heaven - which will be released on July 21 - explores the observation of Earth from afar; portraying how the planet appears peaceful and calm, yet at closer inspection, the complexities and struggles of life become more evident. It is a deeply personal yet cathartic view of the world we live in and one delivered with far more maturity expected from a band releasing their first ever album.HEAVY caught up with guitarist Abe Miller to go even deeper."We've been working on it for so long that it's great to finally get it out," Miller smiled. "We have heard the songs alot (laughs), so we're pretty keen to get it out of our heads and get it into other people's and have them start listening to it."We press Miller to describe the album musically."I would think it's maybe a bit more of a cohesive body of work for us," he measured. "It's a bit more thought out than our two previous EP's. We really tried to focus in on what our sound was and develop our sound from our last EP and make a body of work that we're proud of. Musically, being a guitarist, the tones are much more... I guess... similar to each other. There's a bit more fuzz and that sort of thing. It's something that we're proud of and something we hope people can listen to start to finish and get what we were going for and then when they get to the end hopefully repeat and feels like it was meant to go again."In the full interview we discuss what lessons learnt from their EP's that Bad Juju took into the debut album, the singles released and how they represent the album, featuring on Channel 7's Friday Night Footy and what that meant for the band, conveying emotion through their music, the underlying theme of Blue Heaven and how difficult it was to portray those feelings, live shows and more.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.

20 Jul 202315min

Interview by Kris PetersFifteen albums in to their career and US/French-Canadian based melodic death metal syndicate Kataklysm are still as relevant as ever.With a back catalogue filled with success and a recent history of capitalising on every opportunity, Kataklysm are deep into the promotional campaign for their new album Goliath which will be released on August 11 through Nuclear Blast Records.HEAVY recently sat down to chat with guitarist JF Dagenais to find out more."It's a weird thing," Dagenais replied when asked if the whole album process becomes easier the more you put out. "On the one hand we've done it so many times before that we're not really stressed about it and it's kind of natural to us. But on the other hand we're the type of people that we wanna release quality, and we wanna push ourselves as hard as we possibly can. We're always anxious to see what the reaction's gonna be on the new music and the stuff we do. We really do care to an extent. At a certain point you have to let it go, because everyone's gonna have an opinion on whatever it is you do, but we actually really do care. When we hear a lot of negative stuff it actually hurts. I'm not gonna lie, but I just try to push it away (laughs). But sometimes when it's constructive I like to listen and get a few pointers but if it's just mean to be mean I think it sucks, but it is what is."In the full interview JF talks about the musical side of Goliath and what they were going for, the two singles released and the two part story they tell, how Goliath reflects the current state of the world, taking their time with Goliath and how that influenced the final product, the early days of Kataklysm and how their focus has changed over the years, musical experimentation and where to draw the line and more.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.

19 Jul 202314min

Pioneering New Zealand outfit Kaosis first introduced Australia to their high-energy brand of impossible-to-classify music pre-covid with a whirlwind assault that was as visually terrifying as it was sonically stunning.Blending metal, hip hop elements, dance undertones and whatever else fit into their musical magic ball, Kaosis made an immediate impact and were quickly claimed by many music lovers as their own.Through repeated visits the band have enhanced that reputation, headlining Moondoll Festival as well as Dead Of Winter and converting many traditional metal listeners into fans with their infectious performance and presentation.For their next visit, Kaosis will be part of the Numetal Mayhem Festival which hits our shores in October featuring former vocalists of Slipknot and Mushroomhead in a world-first line-up that already has punters scrambling for tickets.Of course, being the highly active band they are, when HEAVY caught up with frontman XEN to discuss the tour he also had plenty more to tell us including signing to Nuclear Blast imprint Blood Blast Records, synergies between Dubstep and Metal, A metalheads guide to dubstep, signing a deal with Merchmasters and plenty more.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.

14 Jul 20239min

This October Numetal Mayhem is delivering to Australasia two of the most iconic men from two of the biggest Nu Metal bands ever.For the first time in history lead singers from rival bands, Slipknot and Mushroomhead, will share the stage together, ending the legendary feud that has been waged in the press and across social media for twenty-five years.Waylon Reavis is returning to Australia after a 9-year hiatus when he stunned stadiums as the frontman for Mushroomhead at Soundwave 2014. To this day, Reavis is widely acknowledged as being the stand-out vocalist for the iconic masked group and his ongoing success with A Killers' Confession is testament to that ability.Reavis will be playing all your favorite Mushroomhead tracks including I’ll Be Here, Simple Survival, 1200, Our Apologies, Save Us and QWERTY. Mushroomhead have never toured New Zealand and have made no indication that they will be traveling to Australia anytime soon. If you want to hear these classic Mushroomhead tracks this will probably be the only time you will get to.With public interest for the Numetal Mayhem Tour intensifying, HEAVY tracked down Reavis to get some more information.Some of the topics of discussion include Numetal Mayhem and what he is bringing to the tour, first details about his new album coming out later this year, the contentious issue of merch cuts, rising tour costs and how to still make a profit, surviving cancer, pop in metal and more.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.

14 Jul 202319min

Megadeth are a band that has polarised music lovers almost from the outset.Despite a successive string of hit albums, the band has always been more defined by past members and their ongoing feuds with vocalist Dave Mustaine.While music will always be the victor, these public disputes have always threatened to overshadow the music and while those spats continue to this second there is also another, more poignant and pressing matter to divert our attention.The debut Australian tour dubbed Kings Of Thrash which features two of Megadeth's most noticeable and popular former band members in guitarist Jeff Young and bass player David Ellefson is finally coming Down Under.After setting stages alight overseas, Kings Of Thrash have landed in Australia for a run of four shows starting in Canberra on July 12 before winding its way through Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney over successive days.What's more, the set will consist of two classic albums - Killing is my Business….and Business is Good as well as So Far, So Good… So What - which will be played in full in this country for the very first time.HEAVY tracked down Jeff Young for his only Australian interview (Ellefson handled the bulk of press)."It's a brutal show to perform," Young smiled. "Our drummer goes through three t-shirts sometimes per show. He rings out his shirt and can fill up a full glass of water (laughs). It's two brutal albums, a lot of fast tempos and shredding chops abound. We've already done this tour. We did about a month and a few days in America already, so I think we got our conditioning up. I think we're good to go, all systems go."We ask if playing albums front to back poses specific difficulties, especially considering when they were recorded the likelihood of them being played in their entirety would not have been considered."We've really just worked through each song," he measured. "It was lucky, back when I got the gig I went down to Capital Records and I had the engineer pull the two inch tapes for Peace Sells and Killing Is My Business and I soloed all the rhythm guitar parts and all the lead solos, and by some miracle I saved those cassettes all these years and that's what I used to go through each song measure by measure, cell by cell, phrase by phrase, sentence by sentence. I was kind of the musical director that had to crawl through and relearn or learn all the guitar parts, because I had done maybe four Killing Is My Business songs back in the day and of course all the So Far, So Good, So What stuff. That was a little easier to pick up because I played on that record. But I spent a lot of time just crawling through in slow motion. I have an app that once I extracted all the notes and the audio from the cassettes and I put it in my laptop, then I could put it in this app and slow it down by percentages to really hone in. So what we're performing is as close to the record - with a little freedom to improv in some solos - but certain solos I made sure to get note for note. If it's something really memorable or melodic, something that really sticks in your head... Like, Peace Sells I will do all Chris Poland's solos on that note for note. You know you can always expect that in an encore at a show, but some of the other solos we had a little fun with but it's a pretty accurate rendering, as they say."In the full interview Jeff talks more about what to expect, his time with Megadeth and memories of recording So Far, So Good, So What, the other members of the band and how faithfully the old songs are recreated, Mustaine's recent claims that none of the other members aside from Marty Friedman have done anything with their lives, his other musical projects, a possible future collaboration with Ellefson and more.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.

12 Jul 202330min

After exploding onto the metal scene with their debut album Echoes Of The Soul in 2021, Brazilian death metal outfit Crypta soon found themselves connecting with music lovers on a global stage.Led by former Nervosa member Fernanda Lira (bass, vocals), Crypta, which is now rounded out by Jéssica di Falchi (guitar), Tainá Bergamaschi (guitar) and Luana Dametto (drums), soon carved their own niche in what is essentially a male dominated realm of death metal.Their blending of classic and modern death metal with significant extreme and black metal elements, while not unique, was still a scintillating breath of fresh air, but the pressure was always on for the band to deliver with the all important follow up.That album comes in the form of Shades Of Sorrow, which will be released on August 4.Shades Of Sorrow is everything Crypta has promised and more. A scathing indictment of metal music delivered with enough lashings of unexpected beauty and chaos to suggest Crypta are a band only just getting started.Lira sat down with HEAVY to discuss the album in greater detail."I'm very excited," she beamed at the approaching release date. "It's getting closer and closer, there's a couple of weeks left (laughs), so I'm overall just really excited and that's because I love the album! We are so happy and satisfied with the album and we believe in it so much, we just wanna share it with the whole world and see if people can have fun spinning the record. That's an interesting thing... I don't feel nervous, or anxious, or pressured at all. With our first album I have to admit that I was feeling a little bit pressured and a little bit insecure. First of all I have anxiety disorder, so that was fucking up my mind a little bit back then, but also it was my new band. People had never listened to anything from the band. I was curious as to what their reaction was gonna be but now I know we do have fans, we can see how fans are excited about our band and about us releasing a new album... so we're confident about it. There's no room for any anxiety or pressure. We're just really, really happy and excited to be sharing it. It's like when you have a very precious gift to someone, and then you can't wait for that birthday to give them the gift? It's kind of like that, a childlike wonder. That's how I'm feeling."With Shades Of Sorrow receiving rave advance reviews we press Lira to reveal more about its musical nature."This album, comparing it to Echoes Of The Soul which was our first album, I think it's a way more mature album," she measured. "That's the word I like to use because that's what it is. Don't get me wrong, I love our first album, but back then we were still experimenting. Trying to find out what was our sound; what was the essence of the band musically speaking. With this new album and the feedback from the first album, I think we could understand what people would expect from a Crypta album, and we captured that. Then we started experimenting on top of what we already had set as our essence. So this freedom was important to us and I think that's why the album is more mature." In the full interiew Fernanda delves more into the musicality of the album, the two singles released and how they represent the album, the beautiful piano intro and subsequent interlude and closing passages, the album title and where it comes from, the early days of the band and their early vision, how it has changed since, touring plans and more.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.

12 Jul 202328min

When Before The Dawn went on hiatus a little over a decade ago the chances of the band ever reuniting was slim to say the least.Plagued by line-up changes and label problems, the band were imploding at a rapid rate, losing the most important thing of all.Hope.Now, fast forward a decade, and Before The Dawn return triumphant with a new vocalist and revamped line-up as well as a blistering new album Stormbringers, which was released on June 30.Described as seeing Before The Dawn "back stronger than ever", Stormbringers is more than just another comeback album.It is sonic proof that music will always be the victor no matter how insurmountable the odds.Band founder Tuomas Saukkonen - in his first ever Australian interview - joined HEAVY to tell us more."It's been really good," he enthused of the early reception to the bands comeback album. "We were resting a little bit because... we did a few changes to the line-up. We changed the vocalist, who replaced actually two vocalists in the band - I used to be the frontman doing the growling vocals, but I started playing drums only. So there's big changes visually and also in the audio but it's been amazing so far."We press Tuomas on the musical components of Stormbringers."Well, if somebody is not familiar of our previous albums, I think the Finnish melancholy plays a huge part," he replied. "We are very sad people up here in the North (laughs). If you look at Finnish bands in general the melodies they make are quite gloomy, and Before The Dawn is no exception to that. But I think we are on the most positive side of Finnish metal. Our melodic death metal is quite stage friendly and more like rock and roll oriented, if that is allowed to be said about metal in general."In the full interview, Tuomas talks more about the album musically, their new vocalist and the unusual circumstances around which he came to be in the band, how the band has come back stronger, fears people may have forgotten about Before The Dawn during their hiatus, their upcoming tour with Wolfheart and Hinayana, Australian tour plans and more.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.

11 Jul 202319min