HEAVY Music Interviews HEAVY Magazine

Interview by Kris Peters
Johnny Casino has travelled a long way since the 1990s, when he was part of beloved Sydney rockers Asteroid B-612. Known then as guitarist John Spittles, the man's myth and legend has grown exponentially over the years, with people in the modern age referring to him as Johnny Casino, guitar slinger and tattoo artist.
After relocating to Spain earlier this century, Casino dove further into his solo career, plying his talents with a multitude of different artists and honing his skill set to reflect his musical growth.
That journey continued on May 3 when Casino unleashed his latest album High Stone, a rock album highlighted by meaty guitar chops and jazz-style harmonics.
HEAVY tracked Casino down late last week to find out more.
"I make a lot of records," he began, "and I just… once I'm happy with them then I put them out into the world and there's really not too much I can do with them. People like them, some people tell me that they don't like them as much as the last one or more than the last one. My hands are clean. Once I'm happy with it, and I've given it to someone to do their job by manufacturing it, then my job's done. I don't give them out until I know that I've done something that I'm happy with or proud of, or at least something that's interesting to me."
In the full interview, Johnny discusses High Stone in greater detail, including its early reception and Johnny's approach to creating music. He emphasized his continuous drive to create new records and his preference for working with people he enjoys spending time with. They also talked about the musical journey of the album, the use of keyboards, and the influence of the backing band, St James and the Apostles, on the album's sound.
Johnny also explored the impact of his personality on his music, highlighting the importance of authenticity and honesty in his creative expression. He shared insights into his decision to relocate to Spain, describing it as a lifestyle change and an opportunity to reach new audiences beyond Australia.


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Interview by Kris Peters
Reliqa are one of the current emerging crop of must-see bands on the Australian music scene.
Since lighting up the scene with the delightful 2022 EP I Don't Know What I Am, Reliqa have poured blood, sweat and tears into cementing their status and earning their stripes. They have toured relentlessly and kept up a high level of engagement and generally gone noisily (but quietly in their own sense) about their business - which is delivering kick-ass, confronting music backed up with a breathtaking live performance that delivers the complete package.
Following the earlier release of new singles Terminal and Killstar (The Cold War), Reliqa last week dropped another pearler with Dying Light, all three of which feature on the band's debut album Secrets Of The Future which is due out on May 31.
HEAVY sat down with vocalist Monique Pym to find out more, starting with how she is feeling the closer the official release date of May 31 gets.
"I'm terrified," she laughed. "This is the longest record that we've ever released because given the landscape a lot of people listen to shorter form material these days. We've tried to honour that through our singles, but it will be interesting to see who latches on to this full 52-minute experience - and experience is one of the words for it because it is quite a diverse album. I'm so excited. I think that this album… it feels like we're sitting on a precipice right now, and once we release this album I think it's gonna open up a whole lot of doors, so let's just see what happens. We're taking it one day at a time."
We ask Pym to go into more detail about what to expect from Secrets Of The Future.
"It's something that honours how diverse and open-minded we are as people," she measured. "The four of us have such different life experiences and different influences and musical tastes, and that's something that we've always tried to hammer on through our music. Try to keep making records that we want to hear and ones that we want to listen to. Things that feel representative of us as people, not just as artists, but people as well. That's something that we've really remained true to on this album. I'm only speaking for myself here, but I think we have captured the right formula for it now. On our I Don't Know What I Am EP we sort of threw everything at the wall, and we went pretty crazy with it, but this album exorcizes a lot of restraint and I think that that's really cool because it shows that we've matured as people and as artists. It's also shown that we know how to write now in a way that services the song and services the wider product, rather than zooming in on parts and making each part perfect. Ultimately, I think the one word that captures this album is diversity or open-mindedness. There are so many different sounds on there. We call it progressive metalcore, but that progressive is the kicker. The progressive means that we've taken metalcore, and we've drawn in a whole lot of different influences, sounds and styles from other places. Hopefully there should be something for everyone on there. Something for the pop fan, something for the rap/hip hop fan, and then also staying true to our progressive metalcore roots. Hopefully people still love us for that (laughs)."
In the full interview, Monique talks more about Secrets Of the Future, how you gauge success in the modern age of music, the three singles released and how they represent the album as a whole, advancing their sound, maturing with their music and more.


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Interview by Kris Peters
Adelaide rock outfit Audio Reign have, by virtue of geographical location, possibly had to work that bit harder than most to have their music heard and accepted on the national music scene.
Without the opportunities and weight of numbers afforded bands in the larger cities and areas of Australia, Audio Reign learnt early on in the piece that the best way to compensate for the lack of opportunities was to produce continually high-quality music that would hopefully resonate through the divide and into the hearts and ears of a national, then international audience.
Their debut self-titled album offered strong indications of the talent within the band, particularly frontman Jake Fleming, who has been blessed with the stereotypical rock chops that demand an audience. And while more often than not Audio Reign have had to fight tooth and nail to draw that audience in their hometown of Adelaide, opportunities have gradually presented themselves with the band's recent support slot to touring US outfit Skillet overdue reward for effort.
Today Audio Reign fire their strongest shot yet in their quest for rock immortality, with the release of their sophomore album The Perfect Sea, an album that has healthy doses of rock through to hard rock and metal tinges but also splatterings of emotion and sonic diversity that only a growing confidence and self-belief can muster.
HEAVY has keenly observed Audio Reign since first coming across them a number of years ago, and it gave us great pleasure to be able to sit down with Fleming for a deeper insight into the musical mechanisms of the new album.
"It's been a labour of love," he sighed when asked how it felt to finally have the new album in the public domain. "We're stoked to get it out. It's been a long time coming, and the fans have been waiting, so we're on cloud nine."
Bands throughout history have always been plagued by the second album syndrome, an affliction generally thought of as more of a cop-out to those outside of the industry, so we press Fleming to see if the band had any unexpected difficulties with the follow-up effort.
"It's always that way where they say your first album took you twenty years to write, but the next album is expected every couple of years," he measured. "It can be. This album was written during COVID times too, so there was a lot of emotion going through there and just life in general as well. That helped out, I suppose. I'm not the sort of person who just sits there and bangs out a song. I have to wait until it comes to me. But it came through pretty good. The next one… you will have to ask me then (laughs). But this one's been okay."
We ask Fleming to describe The Perfect Sea from a musical point of view.
"A lot of people have albums that have themes," he replied, "but this one doesn't really have one. There's definitely some songs on there that are part of the same thing, but the whole album itself, because it took so long through the pandemic and the fans have been waiting, I wanted to do something for them. The album itself, and the song The Perfect Sea, is basically dedicated to our fans for sticking around and waiting for us and for backing us."
In the full interview, Jake talks more about the diversity of music on The Perfect Sea, the steady procession of singles and how they reflect the album as a whole, which two singles best represent the direction of the album, his vocal range and how far he pushed himself this time, how this release differs from Audio Reign's self-titled debut, the musical growth within the band, singing with XMusic and what that means for the band, touring plans and more.


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Interview by Kris Peters
Sydney metalcore outfit Harroway might only be just starting out on their path in the wide world of music, but already they have figured out that pleasing themselves is the first and foremost goal in this industry that can break down even the strongest willed with ease.
Following their well-received debut EP earlier last year, I Don't Want To Be Here Anymore, a collection of five songs running the gauntlet from the harsher spectrum of metalcore to the more inviting, Harroway could easily have played it safe and delivered up more of the same with future releases. That EP solidified the band's growing reputation and led to a sold-out run of EP launch shows, but instead of resting on their early laurels, Harroway have elected to come out all guns blazing with the first single release since that cycle, a demonically ferocious number called Heresy.
The track is a spitting, snarling descent into chaos, seemingly leaving behind the more universal appeal of their previous songs with a step to the dark side that could potentially open Harroway up to … well, just about anything.
HEAVY sat down with vocalist Matt Banks to find out more, starting with how fans have reacted to the new single.
"It's been great," he smiled. "Weirdly now that it's a month or so out we are really starting to see the traction from Spotify numbers. Our monthlies are back up to like over 20,000 monthly listeners now. We're about to crack like, I think somewhere around, it'll be at like over 40 thousand plays on Spotify alone. I think it's like the total of all platforms, which is sick because it started a bit slow. I was a little nervous and thought maybe people didn't like it. There's a couple of viral videos that are floating around, which always helps out. But yeah, and even at the shows, it's been really good, especially obviously that last breakdown. You know, we've been getting a lot of crowds sing along, you know, basically every show, which is fucking awesome because we've never really We've never really had that before."
In the full interview, Matt spoke more about Heresy, highlighting its heavy sound and positive reception. He also discussed the musical inspiration behind the single and the decision to release it as a standalone. Matt shared insights into his performance mindset and the band's plans for a new EP, emphasizing changes in their musical style and production process.
He also talked about the band's evolution and the challenges of being in the music industry. The conversation also touched on Harroway's almost finished tour with Sienna Skies and No Home, the success of the sold-out shows and future plans.


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Interview by Kris Peters
Following a triumphant rebirthlast year with their comeback single of sorts The PMA Effect, Gold Coast noise machine The Final Fall quickly busied themselves on the live circuit, pumping out a second single Live Everyday earler this year.
Their eclectc and confronting mashing of genres has ensured The Final Fall have made an impact anywhere and everywhere they play, with a menacing and strangely cohesive blending of genres from punk to metal to rock to hardcore creating a sonic maelstorm of venemous intent that is difficult to put into words.
So the band have decided to let their music do the talking, with the premiere at 4pm on May 10 of their latest single Sold - Selling Out Part 2 exclusively via HEAVY mag.
Another slab of musical mayhem, Sold is the successor to The Final Fall's original song Selling Out which was released back in 2011. It may seem like a long journey between drinks, but The Final Fall is determined to make up for lost time, with guitarist Benny Whiskey sitting down with HEAVY to tell us more.
"It's a bit of a journey," he laughed. "Our music has a lot of punk and metal and hardcore in there, and with this one we just wanted to push the boundaries. It's actually the sequel of one of our songs we wrote about a decade ago called Selling Out and is the same as that one, just pushing the boundaries musically. Lyrically, it's almost off the name - Selling Out, Sold - we just wanted to keep the same sequel going. In a short note don't sell out on your friends or family because that's what gets you through life."
In the full interview, Benny covered various aspects of The Final Fall's music such as timing, promotional strategies, and the musical and lyrical content of the song. They also talked about the band's history, including a previous release and their return to the music scene after a hiatus. Additionally, they explored the challenges of re-entering the music world after a long absence, their recent experiences with live shows, and the band's exploration of different musical genres.
Benny provided a comprehensive overview of the band's upcoming events in the punk and hardcore scene, discussing support for renowned bands like Belvedre and The Decline, an upcoming tattoo convention show, the charitable nature of the Rock Beats Depression event and more.


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Interview by Kris Peters
Pensylvanian melodic hardcore upstarts One Step Closer have certainly embraced the disposable culture of modern society, with a musical output bordering on an album or EP roughly every 12 months.
While such a prolific extension of a band's creativity could often lend itself to varying degrees of quality, One Step Closer have consistently put out quality releases ever since their debut demo offering in 2016, all the way up to,and including, last years Songs For The Willow.
Touted as the band's most anthemic and passionate work to date, new album All You Embrace - out May 17 - sees the metal outfit exploring outside of their comfort zone even more, embracing elements of hardcore, emo, '90s alternative and more into a sonic tapestry already rich with diversity.
HEAVY caught up with vocalist Ryan Savitski to find out more.
"I'm honestly nervous and super excited as well," he enthused about the impending release of All You Embrace, "just because, you know, this is a big deal record for us. I feel like the second LP is always a little scary and I feel like we have been trying to do our best just to keep our nerves and keep everything pushing. We're super excited to finally put it out."
We ask Ryan to tell us more about All You Embrace musically.
"Pretty much we were just trying to expand our sound from what it already has been," he shrugged. "We were trying to be a little bit more melodic and kind of push at least the stinging aspects of the band even more. I feel like we've always been more of a melodic band and more like… we're a melodic hardcore band so it's always been sick to push that more on every release that we've done, and on this one I think we were really just trying to be limitless and not hold ourselves back."
In the full interview, Ryan talks more about the sonic direction of All You Embrace, the singles released and how they represent the whole album, , how the album shows One Step Closer's musical evolution from Songs For The Willow, being real to yourself and your music, the contrasting musical styles that go into their music and how it comes together, the early focus on EP's over albums, touring plans and more.
Pre-orders: https://cvaushop.com.au/products/one-step-closer-all-you-embrace-pre-order


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