Challenging The Gods With RYAN KIRBY From FIT FOR A KING

Interview by Shannon-Lee SloaneGold Coast rockers Chavez Cartel have been going from strength to strength lately with new music, some solid support slots, a record label signing, festival slots, a new EP and a UK tour!Busy? We think so!The band have recently released their latest track, Midnight Skies from their forthcoming EP Man’s Best Friend set for release on May 5. They recently supported English indie-rock band, The Reytons while they were in Australia. The band are working with the incredible team at On The Map PR and have signed to UK record label End of the Trail Creative.Chavez Cartel have a natural and seductive swagger in their music, their style, their energy on stage and through their music and music videos. With a perfect balance of dark and light in their music, these guys have just got shit right and in a big fucking way.This interview with HEAVY was done a few weeks ago and by now the guys would have just left to jet set over to the UK to play The Great Escape Festival among a run of other shows before they return to rock Brisbane at MoonDoll Festival on June 3 at the iconic Mansfield Tavern.HEAVY had a chat with the frontman and ringleader of this hard-working, hard rocking four-piece band. Ben Simpson gives us a lot more detail about their busy year and what’s to come for this incredible outfit.And if you’re not seeing them in the UK this month, we strongly suggest you catch them live and loud at MoonDoll Festival in Brisbane on Saturday, June 3, grab your tickets NOW!Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.

1 Mai 202337min

Interview by Kris PetersIt's not often HEAVY gets to speak with performers that are more on the pop side of rock than metal, but when that artists name bears more than a passing similarity to one of the titans of thrash then it just wouldn't be metal to say no.What's her name you may ask?Slayyyter....Yep, and if you didn't see it straight away too then hang your head in shame!Slayyter is currently in Australia thanks to Frontier Touring, performing her own headline shows as well as being on the top billing of the travelling Groovin The Moo Festival, and from all reports has been (ahem) slaying them in the aisles at each show.HEAVY felt strangely drawn to this artist and as such felt honour bound to find out more..."It's been awesome so far," she smiled. "I feel like it's fun just to bring the live show to the fans down here, and I feel like... I dunno... crowds are just incredible. There's always a lot of energy. I love it down here. It's my second trip so I've been having a lot of fun exploring and meeting with people outside of the show and getting to see all these familiar faces on tour that I always see."We ask Slayyyter to describe her live show a bit more and what fans can expect."It's pretty much just like a big rave almost," she replied. "I definitely do a mix that my DJ mixes on the side and then my own stuff. It's not just my music. I have interludes with electronic music that I really love so it's kind of just like really high energy, it feels like a nightclub. Not a lot of slow moments. It's definitely go, go, go the whole time."In the full interview Slayyyter discusses how the Groovin The Moo shows are going, who has grabbed her attention from the lineup, weighs up the pros and cons of an outdoor festival verses a club show, playing to festival crowds that might not know and/or appreciate your music, debuting new songs live on tour and how they have been received, her next album and what to expect, how and why her name so closely mirrors the titans of thrash and more.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.

28 Apr 20238min

Interview by Kris PetersThe true essence of music is enjoyment.Whether that be personal or in a larger environment, music has always been a commodity with the ability to spread joy as far as the ear can hear.Somewhere along the way bands can get lost in the day to day grind and the competitive nature of the industry and lose touch with that one uniting factor. And when they do their career as a musician suddenly becomes much closer to the end than the beginning of a journey.Sure, the nature of the beast is that most musicians out there wouldn't be averse to some public recognition - both financially and critically - but when, as a band or artist, you can let go of those restraints and allow the actual music to be your guiding force, well... anything is possible.For some reason Australian bands tend to hold onto such ideals for longer than others around the world. Call it the Aussie spirit. Call it the beer. Call it something in the water.Call it whatever you want, but to me that's one of the things that makes Aussie music the best in the world.Twenty seconds into talking with blackened doom outfit Wildeornes and you can just tell they come from this old school mentality where they write and release music for themselves first and foremost before putting it out there for public consumption.The band - effectively a duo with the potential for growth (any drummers out there looking for skins to hit take note) will release their new album On The Earth, Under The Sky on April 30, scheduled to venture out into the world to celebrate the 2023 southern hemisphere Samhain.In the bands own words "this album is the harvest, with the coming winter a time for Wildeornes to work on the next batch of songs."Effectively a double concept album, the two combined bodies of work form a conceptual whole that continues the band’s lyrical exploration of eastern and western existential philosophy, deep ecology, and Celtic, Anglo Saxon, and Norse mythologies.HEAVY caught up with Damo (guitar/vocals) and Richie (guitar) to explore further."Pumped," Damo replied simply when asked how they were feeling about the release date looming large. "We've sat on it for ages, it's the golden egg (laughs), and it's just about to hatch. I was two or three years of... I wouldn't say hard... but there were challenges that we faced while recording it and in pre-production with things going wrong and all that kind of stuff and learning how to do it off the cuff and getting advice off people who know what they're doing. It was getting it to a semi-final product then having people listening to t and saying no it needs this. And we're, like, whaaaat? I think it's just good timing now that we've been able to incubate it for so long.""It was hard for us," added Richie, "for sure. Damo and I are rash, impetuous fools. With the last couple of albums, as we've learned to do a bit of pre-production and demo stuff ourselves it was always a case of smack it on the ass and send it out. Whereas with this one there was something like... I guess the songcraft on this one we paid a lot more attention to, so when other people said you need to scoop a bit of this out of the bass or do this we just sat back and listened this time and got over ourselves a little bit, which is sometimes hard to do when you've been doing it for so long (laughs). For me - and Damo and I have been playing together since probably 1996 and we have a string of 7" and tapes and everything behind us - this, for me, at 47 years of age to me is musically the most solid, profound, best sounding everything I've been involved with. It's been a real honour to work with Damo through all the years, and particularly bringing this thing to life."In the full interview, the boys run us through the album musically and lyrically, discuss the concept in greater detail, why it is being released to celebrate Samhain, shaping their sound, keeping fun in your music, the possibility of recruiting a drummer and more.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.

27 Apr 202330min

Interview by Kris PetersGold Coast alternative rock outfit Mass Sky Raid have enjoyed a stellar last couple of years, being awarded Triffid Album of the Year for 2022s Calm In Chaos, making the finals of the Queensland Music Awards for the track Arrows and earning the Queensland Music Awards highly commended 2023 accolade for the single Begin WithThe End. Rather than rest on their laurels and bask in their deserved recognition, Mass Sky Raid have instead thrown themselves straight back into their music, eager to capitalise on the current groundswell of momentum.Mass Sky Raid will today release their latest single Tidal Wave, a rocking tune that also displays elements of alternative rock and experimentation that sees the band pushing themselves further out of their comfort zone.Vocalist Adam Lomas joined HEAVY earlier today to talk about Tidal Wave in greater detail and reveal some of Mass Sky Raid's plans for the near future."It's exciting," he beamed when asked how he is feeling about Tidal Wave being unleashed on the world. "Just releasing any content like this is always exciting, you never know what to expect or how it will be received, but we're just super pumped to get new songs out there."Mass Sky Raid have always been a band who don't feel comfortable with remaining static musically. Once they find and refine a particular sound they set straight to work on improving on that yet again. It is an attitude that has seen the band force their way into the ears of the music loving public and one which Lomas stresses will be a part of their musical DNA for a long time to come."We released the album Calm In Chaos last year and I think we are trying to show a different side of Mass Sky Raid here," he measured. "Probably more of an alternate rock side. We do have our progressive elements to our music but this s pretty much a straight up, solid rock song. I'm excited to see what people think of it."In the full interview Adam goes deeper into Tidal Wave musically and lyrically, how the band has changed musically since Calm In Chaos, the extra weight of expectation that comes with receiving awards, the lyric video for Tidal Wave and manufacturing a quality lyric video, whether Tidal Wave is a stand alone track or part of a bigger picture, how the bands sound has progressed over their three albums, the two single launch shows coming up in May and more.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.

27 Apr 20237min

Interview by Kris PetersAustralia has birthed some iconic bands that will go down in music history amongst critics and fans alike.Bands like AC/DC, The Angels, Screaming Jets. Bands that music lovers have dug into the trenches with and emerged triumphant to share the spoils of war.But while bands such as this are revered amongst the public and fans, seldom does a band stand out as national treasures to be put on a pedestal until the time comes that they feel like coming down.At their own leisure of course.One such Australian band that immediately springs to mind is Kisschasy.After forming in the Mornington Peninsula around the turn of the century, Kisschasy soon established themselves as a musical force to be reckoned with, scoring two gold certified albums (out of three), two gold certified singles, multiple ARIA nominations plus invitations to perform at some of the countries biggest musical festivals.But not only were Kisschasy successful, they were also genuinely nice guys with a casual demeanor that refused to be ruffled despite the bands overwhelming success.After disbanding in 2015, Kisschasy seemed reluctant to offer any morsels of pleasure for expectant and waiting fans, biding their time and making sure the timing was right for them first and foremost before even contemplating another venture into the musical landscape.Late last year the band answered the prayers of a nation by announcing an extensive national reunion tour for this May, with the announcement enough to plunge their debut album United Paper People back into the ARIA Top Ten Album Charts 18 years after its initial release.HEAVY recently sat down with Kisschasy bass player Joel Vanderuit to get the final plans before the tour kicks off in Brisbane on May 4."It sort of kept on creeping up too," he replied when we remark on the lengthy nature of the tour. "Luckily a lot of the shows have been selling out so we've been able to increase venue sizes or ass an extra show. Darren (Cordeah, vocalist) lives in LA now and we've only got him for a set amount of time so we thought we'd flog the absolute hell `out of him on tour and make sure he earns his keep (laughs)."If any vindication for Kisschasy dusting off the touring cobwebs was needed, it was quickly answered by the public response to individual shows with a number selling out within the first few days of going on sale."It's really surreal," he smiled. "We're actually onto our third Melbourne show now which is wild. I think half of being away for so long is why we're able to do this and why we're able to reconnect with everyone in such an engaging way. If we turned up every year I don't think it would be quite the same. It's lucky for us and hopefully everyone's able to come out and enjoy it."In the full interview Joel tells us what to expect from the shows, outlines the steps along the way to announcing this tour, getting mentally and physically ready for such a long tour after 8 years, the early days of Kisschasy and the climate that created them, their early acceptance by music lovers and why he thinks that was, how close the band came to pulling stumps permanently in 2015 and more.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.

27 Apr 202310min

Interview by Kris PetersIn a musical world being increasingly defined by labels and genres it is refreshing to come across a band who seems to neither care, nor notice where they fit into the tightening art that is called music.South African rock outfit Ruff Majik are one of those bands.With a sound that can be defined only so far as having its roots in rock, the musical output and disparity produced by the band is as reckless as it is carefree and natural. Sure, they have the bottom end sludge coupled with distorted riffs and fuzzy guitars, but if you think that makes them easy to define then you are easily fooled.By combining these sounds with a sonic landscape that draws inspiration from B Grade Drive In Movies from the annals of time and a sonic palate that would quench even the hardened thirst, Ruff Majik sprinkle enough of their own DNA throughout their music that it quickly becomes difficult to label.Add in some quirky moments of humour that elevate what could potentially be dark and foreboding lyrics and layer it with an undeniable love for what they do and suddenly you have a form of musical expression that far outstrips the conventional normality that society loves to place on progress.With their latest album Elektrik Ram being unleashed on April 28, vocalist/guitarist Johni Holiday spent some time on the casting couch with HEAVY to convey the simple complexities of the bands music."I'm pretty excited," he smiled when asked how he was feeling about the albums imminent release. "There was a little gap there where I wasn't sure how things were gonna go down, just because it's a different kind of album, but so far we've had some reviews come in and they've all been really, really positive so it's given me some renewed vigour. I'm ready for it now."We ask Holiday to run us through the album from a musical perspective."Musically and lyrically it's a very schizophrenic album," he measured. "It's all over the place, jumping in and out of different genre styles. It's always very rooted in rock and roll - it's got to be - but we've taken it from every possible angle, I guess. But that was kind of the point. It had to be like that for the story to be able to flow and then we had them all collected the biggest mission was to just make them fit. Just to have it go through congruently and I think we managed it."In the full interview, Johni talks more about the theme of the album, it's light hearted ambiance despite the serious subject matter, the opening track Hilbillly Fight Song and how it sets up the rest of the album, the meaning behind the songs She's Still A Goth, Cement Brain and A Song About Drugs With A Clever Title, creating a sonic landscape with your music, future plans and more.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.

27 Apr 202317min

Interview by Kris PetersGold Coast rock outfit The Silencio have long been held in high regard amongst the local music community.Their passion and enthusiasm for their craft is infectious, which, coupled with a highly professional attitude and outlook has seen the band recently anointed as a "local emerging act to watch" by Gold Coast's Blank Magazine.That effort was finally rewarded recently when The Silencio beat off stiff competition to with the Rebel FM Band Battle to open for The Smashing Pumpkins and Jane's Addiction at the final show of The World Is A Vampire Festival this Sunday, April 30, at Broadwater Parklands on the Gold Coast.It is fitting that The Silencio have been awarded the opportunity after being judged by a panel of their peers, with one of the only things ever holding the band back being a lack of opportunity in South East Queensland.To celebrate, The Silencio are also releasing the ninth track from their upcoming sophomore album Foreign Frequencies, a rocking number called Taciturn (Over) Talkative which will make up part of the set list for this Sunday's show.Vocalist/guitarist Jan Nicholas Blom joined HEAVY earlier today to discuss what is a busy period for the band, starting with the new single."It's actually one of the songs I wrote towards the back end of the previous album cycle and nearly made it onto that record," he began, "but I hadn't quite fleshed it out. Originally the key line at the beginning of the main riff was actually played on the guitar and I tried to jazz it up and change it up a bit. The title came from a good friend of mine, Scott Mitchell, one of his close friends passed away due to suicide and Scott wrote an article about that whole circumstance and he used the phrase "to be less taciturn and more talkative" and it stuck with me. It's such a great message to try and pass on, to make sure we don't hold things in and we do talk to each other."In the full interview, Nic talks more about the music side of Taciturn (Over) Talkative, the film clip that has each of the band members Fathers play a role, the upcoming album and why The Silencio chose to release it all as singles, special plans for the finished product, winning the Band Battle to play at The World Is A Vampire, what to expect from their show, the addition of so many Australian bands on an international bill and what it means for Australian music and more.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.

27 Apr 202316min

Interview by Kris PetersMore often than not when a group of musicians get together to form a new band - often termed Supergroup (which still makes me cringe), those musos have either played together before or mixed in the same circles and come across each other in a musical capacity.Not so the three well known musicians that make up death/thrash outfit Dieth.Coming together out of musical connection rather than friendship, David Ellefson (bass, Megadeth), Guilherme Miranda (guitarist/vocalist, ex Entombed A.D.) and drummer Michał Łysejko (ex-Decapitated) recently announced their debut full length album To Hell And Back, which will be out on June 2.Heavier than anything Ellefson has ever done in the past, Dieth also provides a creative outlet for three musicians who have each been major contributors over the past few decades to start fresh with only the sweet smell of creativity in the air.Dieth have already given fans a taste of what to expect with the singles In The Hall Of Hanging Serpents, To Hell And Back and Don't Get Mad...Get Even, each song further exploring the extremities with which Dieth plan to take their music.Ellefson sat down with HEAVY to talk more about the upcoming album."Great!" he exclaimed when asked how he is feeling about the release. "Especially talking to people like yourself and getting some feedback from people around the world. Obviously we had a great journey making the album over the last year. It's nice to know the record company is excited, it's nice to know the fans are excited. It's a process. The album coming out, it's a great anticipation and I'm glad we're doing it."We press him on what to expect musically from To Hell And Back."I think the title says alot, right" he laughed. "It talks about a journey, ironically a journey the three of us were separately on individually. I just find it funny how the three of us were brought together to unify our journey - strength in numbers. It's more fun as a musician to be in a band playing with your friends and I think in this case it's more fun for three strangers to become friends and become brothers to tell a unified story together. I think lyrically that's that part of it. Musically, a theme I keep hearing is that people are excited to hear me do something so heavy, so brutal. It's a step or two beyond probably what I've done in my past, so that's cool. And I like that, because ... I did The Lucid, which was a bit within range but maybe skewed a little more over here, and then I've got Dieth which is way over here. I've got Kings Of Thrash, Ellefson solo and I've got other records that I've done in between. I'm a versatile guy (laughs). I like to play a lot of different music, so to me Dieth represents a really cool cornerstone of a new sound for me."In the full interview, David talks more about what to expect from the album, the singles released and how they represent the rest of the music, the acoustic passage that opens the album and why it is there, the track Walk With Me Forever which is Ellefson's first ever vocal performance, how him singing came about, how Dieth represents a new beginning for all involved, what elements of each former bands the three brought to Dieth, the upcoming Australian Kings Of Thrash Tour with Jeff Young and more.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.

26 Apr 202326min