HEAVY Music Interviews HEAVY Magazine

Interview by Kris Peters
Melbourne rockers The Dreadful Tides emphatically announced their arrival on the Australian music scene in 2021 with their infectious and rock as all fuck debut single Crazy.
The song was like the meeting of two sonic forces that exploded with raw guitars, meaty solos and the kind of swagger that left rock music while the Rolling Stones were still in their nappies.
Blessed with an upbringing of 70s and 80s old-school rock and metal, The Dreadful Tides wove those influences with a modern edge to create a hybrid rock and metal blast of sonic intensity that almost dares you not to take notice.
The band have been steadily building since then, culminating in the release of their new single Fire In The Hole which takes everything already sprinkled in The Dreadful Tides' DNA and laces it with slabs of hard rock bordering on metal intensity to elevate their music to another level.
Part of that intensity blast came through new vocalist Jimmy Black, whose recent inclusion to The Dreadful Tides has opened the chasm of opportunity even further and invited the Gods of metal into their realm.
HEAVY caught up with guitarist Justin Strudwick and drummer Leland Hallett to find out more.
"It's actually really, really surprised us this time," Hallett offered when asked how Fire In The Hole has been received. "Everyone has just loved the track. The amount of messages we've got off people and the appreciation off so many different people. We also managed to get airplay in multiple countries already which is good for us. The reception has been phenomenal."
We ask the boys to dive deeper into Fire In The Hole musically.
"It started off, in all honesty, as just a riff that we were messing around with," Strudwick replied. "We said we just need a cool opening track for gigs. Not even for recording purposes. Just for gigs. So me and Leland messed around with a few things, but the music has stayed pretty solid for that track the whole time. We actually had some different lyrics for it originally - except the chorus. The chorus was still the same, but when Jimmy came on board he had a different take on the song and changed the lyrics apart from the chorus, and we were just like, yep, that's it. That suits the music. We went into the studio to record that song and use it in our back pocket for if we need it, but once we heard it we thought we have to get this thing out."
In the full interview, Justin and Leland discussed plans for their upcoming singles and the potential release of an EP. They provided details about the band's decision to introduce each track individually, highlighting their desire to give each song its own spotlight. They also delved into the band's musical growth, explaining how their writing process has evolved as they have become more familiar with each other and their producer. Additionally, they hinted at upcoming interstate shows starting in April, indicating an exciting future for the band.

Interview by Kris Peters
Fresh off the road from a tour with Tapestry and AM/PM, Adelaide emo alt-rock five-piece Wolf & Chain find themselves already consumed by producing more content so that the current wave of hype the band has generated does not go to waste.
The band needn't worry too much, because after the success of their catchy and infectious recent single Not Giving Up it is highly unlikely anyone will be forgetting their name in the foreseeable future.
Pulling from sounds found in the 2000s with My Chemical Romance, Panic! At The Disco and 30 Seconds To Mars, Not Giving Up is a quirky and fun slab of music, driven by typically personal subject matter that has become one of Wolf & Chain's trademarks.
HEAVY sat down for a chat with vocalist Jack Cumes and guitarist Joe Butcher to find out what the next steps of this exciting young band will be.
We start by asking how the recently completed run of dates with Tapestry went.
"Super cool," Cumes replied. "A bunch of people came out to see us, which is always great. Tapestry, those guys are super amazing live, so it was amazing just to see them and learn off them as well.
Melbourne felt like a big step up from when we usually play. I think Melbourne can be a bit hit-and-miss for us. We've only played there a few times, but this last show we played, we had a great time. There was heaps of people, and it was a good wrap-up to the end of the tour as well."
The tour was essentially to help promote the new single Not Giving Up, with Cumes happily relaying the new track was positively received live..
"It went down well," he smiled. "We always have a good time playing it, and we worked really hard on that song. It was a bit of a process getting it to where it was, so I think whenever we play it live we feel pretty good. We're happy that it's had this journey."
In the full interview, Wolf & Chain discussed the visual and conceptual inspiration behind their music, using werewolves as a metaphor and drawing inspiration from horror movies for their music video.
They hinted at a larger project on the horizon and expressed a desire to push themselves to create something different for their next work. The band also emphasized the importance of working with different collaborators and expressed confidence in their progress towards finding their distinct sound.

Interview by Kris Peters
Tasmanian entertainment machine Luca Brasi are headed to this side of the ocean next month to celebrate their latest album The World Don't Owe You Anything with a tour of the same name.
It is an extensive tour by Australian standards, taking in Canberra, Adelaide, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sydney and Newcastle but if past tours and reputation are anything to go by we are in for a nationwide treat. Luca Brasi will be bringing the beautifully named Spanish Love Songs with them for the trek, promising nothing but a night of great music, laughs and good old-fashioned mateship.
Frontman Tyler Richardson joined HEAVY to tell us more.
"Yeah man, it's nice to go and play places that don't get got to as much as they should," he smiled. "So it's nice to go back to those towns. We come from Tassie and quite often back in the day we didn't get all these tours, so it's nice to be able to go and play them."
In the full interview, Tyler talks more about their upcoming tour with Spanish Love Songs, expressing excitement about playing in overlooked towns and the significance of returning to their origins in Tasmania. He emphasized the need to mentally and physically prepare for the extensive run of shows, highlighting the importance of maintaining gig fitness and being mindful of looking after yourself. Tyler also reflected on the band's journey in finding their musical identity and returning to creating music that resonates with them, despite the challenges of popularity and commercial success. He expressed his genuine excitement for live performances and his gratitude for the opportunity to be on tour, as well as their plans to start writing new songs and spending time with their friends from Spanish Love Songs.

Interview by Kris Peters
The struggle most bands find these days is keeping together a stable line-up to help them grow both musically and professionally.
A variety of obstacles face most bands currently doing the rounds, with member retention being the common ailment of bands on a global scale.
Brisbane metal outfit Engraved are no exception.
Since relocating from Sydney last year, Engraved have been plagued with the age-old problem of members internally combusting, halting their forwarded momentum every time the band starts to make serious inroads in the national metal scene.
But, hopefully, Engraved's run of bad luck and/or poor judgement is about to end, with today's announcement that Cairns product Panda is joining the noise maestros as vocalist.
Each incarnation of Engraved has had promise but fallen by the wayside for one reason or another, but after chatting with the band recently it seems their luck might just be taking a turn for the better.
HEAVY caught up with guitarists Dan and Cory, bass player Phil and new vocalist Panda for a chat about their upcoming appearance at Beyond The Darkness at The Back Room on September 14 and plenty more.
"It sounds like an excellent gig," Cory affirmed. "I am quite excited. The last Beyond The Darkness gig was actually my first with the band and was kind of like a trial by fire. I went out and very quickly all of our scepticisms and nerves disappeared, so I'm excited to come back out and smash it again."
"This will be your anniversary with us, too," Phil added.
In the full interview, the conversation shifted to personal updates, with Cory sharing news of his engagement. The band members introduced themselves and discussed their upcoming headlining show as part of Beyond The Darkness in greater detail, outlining the fact it is a benefit concert for the GI Cancer Institute. They also discussed their upcoming gigs, including Nowhere Festival at the Mansfield Tavern, and recent line-up changes within the band.
The Engraved band members shared their journeys of joining the band and discussed their upcoming music releases. They expressed enthusiasm for the new material and assured fans that the essence of the band's original vision will be preserved while incorporating refined elements. The band members also touched on branding updates and new merchandise, with Dan taking the lead on these initiatives.

Interview by Kris Peters
While the annual APRA Music Awards have always celebrated the abundance of talent coursing through the Australian musical landscape, the focus has always been on the more mainstream artists and side of the industry.
Hard rock and heavy metal have long been touted for inclusion, but for varying reasons have never quite made it onto the big stage for Australia's most prestigious awards.
Until now.
The 2024 APRA Music Awards will, for the very first time, include a category which rewards and recognises this country's strong and growing stronger metal scene with the inclusion of the inaugural Most Performed Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Work category.
The point could - and will - be argued that heavy music should have been included long before this, but in the overall scheme of things, the fact this category has been introduced is recognition and vindication of how much heavy music is progressing in our own backyard. It is just reward for a scene and genre that has never claimed to be for the masses, but through sheer weight of listening numbers has ensured long overdue acceptance in the public spotlight.
Nominees for the category this year include Alpha Wolf, Polaris, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, The Amity Affliction and Parkway Drive, all bands who have played a significant role in the increased growth of heavy music both here and abroad.
To celebrate this landmark event, HEAVY tracked down Winston McCall from Parkway Drive to discuss just what something like this means to Australian heavy music.
"It's sick," he smiled. "It's awesome that they have added that category. Awards are humbling in general. I'm really stoked for more recognition for our scene and community, full stop. Because right now it just seems like… it's honestly bigger than it's ever been. The more that we can do to push that forward and make people recognise it, the better for it. For us to get an award, sweet, I'm stoked the award exists with a bunch of really, really cool bands."
As good as it is to have APRA finally recognise the heavy music community, their hand has been pushed somewhat by the continued expansion of artists within this genre. It is a sense of pride to everyone in the metal scene, and one not lost on the bigger fish like Parkway Drive.
"Yeah, 100%," McCall agreed. "And that's the way it works. At the base of that, the really cool thing is being involved in a scene where situations like that come about because of the community behind it. It's like an engaged scene of people. Everyone pays attention to everything that's going on. Everyone supports everything. Not every scene is doing as well as ours at this point in time. Post-COVID it's been difficult, but I look out there, and I see people who still care about this music that is their passion and still support it 110% and look at where it is now."
In the full interview, Winston expressed pride in the Australian music scene and the community's support for the genre, discussed his upcoming attendance at the awards night and his lack of preparation for a potential speech. The conversation also included a lighthearted exchange about sending photos of outfits and the casual approach to the event.
Winston also reflected on Parkway Drive's 20th-anniversary tour later this year, expressing gratitude for the band's journey and the community's support. He shared insights on the band's supports for the tour and discussed the challenges of managing the unexpected popularity. Additionally, Winston discussed the band's upcoming European festivals and Australian tour, hinting at new music in the works but expressing a preference to focus on the existing material during the tour.

Interview by Kris Peters
Hailing from the quiet town of Taree on the New South Wales Central Coast, emerging metal outfit Diamond Construct are anything but.
Brash, loud, and in your face with no respite, Diamond Construct are a hurricane of musical intensity that is only just starting to gather real force.
Since dropping their self-titled debut album around the turn of the decade, Diamond Construct have been working tirelessly on the live circuit, landing shows with Alpha Wolf, Justice For The Damned, Stray From The Path and Bury Tomorrow, with recent times seeing them perform at CVLTFEST plus hit the road with two of the Japanese bands on the bill, Crossfaith and Paledusk.
Last year saw Diamond Construct sign with prestigious US label Pale Chord, subsequently releasing three killer singles, Hell Inside You, Switchblade OST and Jynx.
All three are taken from the band's new album Angel Killer Zero, which will be unleashed on April 26.
HEAVY caught up with Diamond Construct frontman Kynan Groundwater to find out more. We ask him if those trio of singles are a good sonic representation of what to expect from the whole album.
"I think it's a pretty big picture, but it's not the full picture," he measured. "There's so much more to dive in on in the album. When writing such a big piece and body of work like Angel Killer Zero and having that diverse sound that we've had over the years, it was hard to fit everything into just 11 songs. If anyone thinks that they've heard it all from those three, they've got another thing coming. Because there's so much on that album. There's a song for everyone."
We ask him to further explain Angel Killer Zero from a musical perspective.
"It's not a concept album, but it's definitely got themes and concepts about it that tell a bit of a story," he replied. "So, obviously from start to finish it runs smoothly together with some of the interludes, and it's got some exerts from video games and stuff that I love to play. I love the anime stuff. We've got the robotics voice introducing some of the themes about the album, so that's something that came into it earlier in the piece. Musically, it's just a big expansion of DCX2. We went back and revisited the sound of what made us popular in the first place with Psychosis and Enigma, and then we blended that with the heavier sounds from the self-titled, which we know a lot of people like as well. It was just a big meshing of that, as well as adding in so many more elements that we haven't explored yet."
In the full interview, Kynan talks more about what to expect from Angel Killer Zero, how it differs to their self-titled debut album, the anime connection and how it translates to the album, the themes explored on the album, signing with Pale Chord, their upcoming regional tour and what to expect and more.