Challenging The Gods With RYAN KIRBY From FIT FOR A KING

Photos by Ian RitterInterview by Kris PetersThe Bendigo Hotel in Melbourne is stamping its mark on the live music scene from early in the New Year when it hosts Robot Rocks Presents, a showcase event of bands and artists aligned to the Golden Robot label.The brainchild of Kim Bencic, Robot Rocks kicks off on January 7 in the first of what is hoped will be a regular music program that will highlight some of Golden Robot's emerging artists across Australia.The first installment will see Stonetrip, Cicadastone, Shotgun Mistress, Gen2, The Vendettas, Mark E and The Exiles take to the stage in one massive night of live music covering a range of genres and styles.Bencic and Mark Alexander-Erber, CEO and founder of Golden Robot Records sat down with HEAVY to talk about Robot Rocks Presents and Golden Robot."Robot Rocks will be taking primarily our Australian - not all of them - but part of our Australian roster and touring them around Australia in 2023," Alexander-Erber explained, "which is fantastic.""Golden Robot Records has been going about 8 years now," he continued, "and we have fast become one of the leading independent labels in the world. We've got 12 labels in the group, around 500 bands, with some of the biggest names in the world. We have Filter and The Answer and three members of Guns N Roses, LA Guns, RATT and Faster Pussycat plus a huge slew of great Aussie singer/songwriters, like Nick Barker and Johnny Casino. We've worked with Steve Kilby from The Church. We've worked with Mark Of Cain and we've got new bands that have joined that could be the next big thing. We just signed an incredible band out of New Zealand called Shepherd's Reign that could be the next Sepultura, so we're right across all fronts from country music, hard rock, heavy rock, metal, punk, old school rock and classic rock etc. We're an Australian label out there kicking ass all over the world, especially in Europe and the UK and America."While Alexander-Erber oversees the above and more, he gladly defers to Bencic when asked about the Robot Rocks Presents events."A couple of the bands came to me and asked me what I thought about putting some shows together for everyone that's on the roster with Golden Robot Records," she began. "There seems to be a lot of festivals going on and you just can't get on them, so we thought together we'll put our own shows on and just go around Australia."In the full interview Kim talks more about the first show on January 7 and the bands involved, outlines her future plans to take Robot Rocks gigs throughout Australia. Mark talks more about Golden Robot Records, their stable of bands, upcoming releases - including Stonetrip who will be releasing a new single and their debut album early next year, tips for getting your band on a labels radar, showcasing homegrown talent and more.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.

22 Des 202220min

Interview by Jimmy GlinsterHEAVY had the honour of conducting backstage interviews with a selection of bands for the final Good Things Festival show in Brisbane recently, which we are going to drip-feed you just because we can!While all of the interviews on the day were special for their own reasons, ones like the following chat with Ocean Grove were a touch more special. Not only were they with Aussie acts, but the excitement and passion oozing from the younger bands like Ocean Grove was instantly infectious.It's been a massive year for the guys, with the band releasing their third album Up In The Air Forever earlier this year and finishing things off with a bang by appearing on the Good Things line-up.Jimmy Glinster caught up with Twiggy and Dale for a brief, but entertaining recap on their experience.The sound quality may be affected in patches due to the interviews being recorded live with a full festival raging behind us, but sit back and enjoy the fully immersive experience of each band as they navigate the day. They are also sparsely edited for maximum effect.Full video interviews will be published in the near future.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.

22 Des 20224min

Classic rock is a genre that will never die. And thank the metal Gods for that!Each generation seems to throw up another band that fits the classic rock mould, and each manages to maintain some form of individuality to separate themselves from those who came before.That band for this generation is the awesomely titled Cats In Space, a band that started life as a studio project but through sheer weight of brilliance soon morphed into a fully fledged rock outfit in their own right that has swept all before them, culminating in their latest 15 track behemoth, Kickstart The Sun.Guitarist/songwriter Greg Hart joined HEAVY to go into further detail."It's been amazing over here," he enthused of the reception afforded Kickstart The Sun. "I mean, it's done really, really well. It's outsold our other album so it's done well. In fact, I'm still getting emails in as we speak and it has featured high in the end of year readers polls and critics polls and stuff so we have had a couple of albums of the year mentioned with it which has been amazing. The reports and the reviews have been astonishing. It was a big gamble doing a double album in this day and age, but it seems to have paid off."We press Hart to elaborate on the musical direction of Kickstart The Sun and what Cats In Space were going for with it."To people in Oz that don't know who we are, we're kind of a classic rock band in the traditional sense that we're very steeped in the 70s - like Queen, Yellow, there's bits of Supertramp in there, John Miles, Uriah Heap - and we tend to go down that path. All of the albums we've done to date have gone down well in that marketplace. But Kickstart The Sun is a double album. It's loosely concepted, but it's not a heavy concept album. It's basically 15 songs of chaos (laughs). We do epic songs and we do ballads... As I'm the principal songwriter it's very, very influenced by Queen more than anything. We go to huge production that not many bands do these days, so it certainly gets us noticed."In the full interview we talk about the album being a double album and if that was planned from the start, the risks in the modern age of releasing double albums, the musical content, why specifically the 70s, touring Australia, the band name and where it came from and much more.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.

21 Des 202216min

Interview by Erin EddyFrench rock musician Laura Cox was first recognised for her talents a little over 10 years ago whenshe began uploading guitar covers of popular rock and blues songs on YouTube. As she gained moreand more popularity, she naturally progressed onto writing her own music and forming a band. Nowabout to release her third album of original material, Head Above Water, it’s a ride she neverexpected would take her where she is today.“I was still believing I wouldn’t play guitar as a job, even recently” she explains, and says she simplystarted uploading videos to YouTube back in 2008 because “I’m a guitar lover and just love allaspects of playing guitar.”But when she amassed several million views on her videos and 500k subscribers it was time toseriously consider making a career out of music.“This helped me start my career with my live project, my band, and now my third album is going tobe released next month,” says Laura of the evolution from casual YouTuber to career musician. “Itwas really not planned at all.”Siting influences like Slash and Mark Knopfler, Laura says she is proud of the evolution her guitarplaying has taken and that while her musical influences could be fairly clearly noted in her earliermaterial, she is now happy to have developed a sound and style of her own. This is something she’smost looking forward to showcasing with the release of Head Above Water.Head Above Water will be available January 20, 2023.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.

21 Des 202215min

HEAVY had the honour of conducting backstage interviews with a selection of bands for the final Good Things Festival show in Brisbane recently, which we are going to drip-feed you just because we can!First up for the day was Sleeping With Sirens, and what a way to start.Jimmy Glinster, who was doing the interview with Kyra-Jade Coombs, also reviewed Sleeping With Sirens' latest album Complete Collapse and didn't have much nice to say.And do you think the band knew they were speaking with the man who ripped them to shreds? You'll have to listen to find out...The sound quality may be affected in patches due to the interviews being recorded live with a full festival raging behind us, but sit back and enjoy the fully immersive experience of each band as they navigate the day. They are also sparsely edited for maximum effect.Full video interviews will be published in the near future.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.

20 Des 202213min

HEAVY had the honour of conducting backstage interviews with a selection of bands for the final Good Things Festival show in Brisbane recently, which we are going to drip-feed you just because we can!We were supposed to do a phoner with Gojira the week before Good Things but when that fell through the promotors kindly promised us a face-to-face with the band at the festival, and I can honestly say I have never seen Simon Russell-White so excited.Gojira have been on his bucket list for a while, and to get the chance to sit opposite frontman Joe Duplantier for a one-on-one chat gave Simon a glint in the eye that told me we were in for something special.I think he nailed it, but judge for yourself below.The sound quality may be affected in patches due to the interviews being recorded live with a full festival raging behind us, but sit back and enjoy the fully immersive experience of each band as they navigate the day. They are also sparsely edited for maximum effect.Full video interviews will be published in the near future.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.

20 Des 202210min

HEAVY had the honour of conducting backstage interviews with a selection of bands for the final Good Things Festival show in Brisbane recently, which we are going to drip-feed you just because we can!This year Australian bands were well represented on the bill, with Cosmic Psychos, Redhook, Thornhill, Ocean Grove, TISM, The Amity Affliction, Regurgitator, The Gloom In The Corner and You Am I amongst the Aussie contingent.Although every band deserved their spot, Thornhill are perhaps the local band that demanded inclusion, with the band happy to have a chat with HEAVY after their awesome set.The sound quality may be affected in patches due to the interviews being recorded live with a full festival raging behind us, but sit back and enjoy the fully immersive experience of each band as they navigate the day. They are also sparsely edited for maximum effect.Full video interviews will be published in the near future.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.

15 Des 202214min

US rock outfit Classless Act have had a meteric rise in 2022. Firstly, they landed themselves the opening slot on The Stadium Tour with Motley Crue and Def Leopard, before dropping their massively successful debut album Welcome To The Show which led to frontman Derek Day being invited to perform as part of the Taylor Hawkins farewell concert in September.Now, currently part way through their own headlining tour, the band are readying to drop the Welcome To The Acoustic Show EP on December 16, which features a selection of cuts from their debut album performed stripped back and acoustically.HEAVY sat down with Day recently to discuss the EP and more, starting with the reception for the singles dropped from the EP in the lead up to its release."Pretty good, actually," he beamed in his usual charismatic nature. "So much so that we've decided to play them on tour acoustically. People dig it, they're sharing it, and really most of all we're quite happy with it too. It's very raw. It's just one take and we released it and that was it, just like experimenting."We ask Day what he gets out of performing the songs acoustically that he may not when playing them in their original form."So many things," he smiled. "My favourite thing is the dynamic shift. Everything gets a little quieter, so I'm forced to sing a little differently. I get to really hone in on the feeling, or the meaning of the song. I really get off on those dynamics."In the full interview we ask Derek for his favourite track to play acoustically, if this EP is more for existing fans or new ones, The Stadium Tour and how it went, what sorts of things Classless Act as a band took out of that tour, their current tour, plans over the festive season, how the next album might sound, plans to come to Australia and more.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.

15 Des 202212min