HEAVY Music Interviews HEAVY Magazine

Interview by Kris Peters
Golden Robot Global Entertainment is a worldwide brand that prides itself on being home to some of the most legendary bands and up-and-coming artists in the world. Starting with just one band in 2015, the company has expanded quickly to meet demand and spans a multitude of genres and styles. They are a truly global network, with bands such as Filter, Orgy, The Answer, Shepherd's Reign, Rose Tattoo and countless more on their successful roster.
But there is much more to Golden Robot Records than meets the eye, with Mark Alexander, Golden Robot Global Entertainment Manager, joining HEAVY to tell us about some exciting new developments that will benefit musicians and artists of all levels of experience and stature.
"Golden Robot Records started nearly ten years ago now," he began. "It basically started because my son was on Australia's Got Talent - he was about nine at the time, he's 21 now - and he nearly won the show. Coming out of the show, we thought, we don't want him to be a novelty. We want him to have some sort of legacy. So we put him together with a couple of great guys and fantastic musicians - Steve Balbi was one of them - and they made this great album. They called it Orbiter and the band was called Moon. When I shopped that around, nobody was interested, nobody gave a shit. So I thought, you know what? I'm gonna do this myself. I'd given everybody a little present to thank them, a little golden robot, and when it was time to name the company we named it Golden Robot Records. We started off hard. We were signing some great bands in the States and Europe. I was working with Derek Shulman, who was the ex-president of Roadrunner Records, and him and I went along and got involved in quite a lot of things from about 2015, and we just kept growing. (but) this is a different year for us. We've had the hits and misses over the years. We've had some things that have gone to number one. We've had some things that have been a disaster, but that's the business. The good thing about being an Aussie and working in the global world is if you make a mistake, you can apologise and fix it and get on with it. If you're doing something well, we'll celebrate it with you. It served its purpose, and it served us well, and we've worked with some great bands. We've got global distribution through physical and digital - and we've just changed recently to an even better set up - great PR, great marketing people. My team today is the best it's ever been. We've had a few changes over the last six months, and I've got a really good team that just gets on with it. We're just in it for the music and to get the word out about Aussie music across the world. It's exciting."
In the full interview, Mark tells us about the new developments at Golden Robot Records including Robot Distro, how to best get your music out there for mass consumption, what sorts of things a band should have done as a unit before seeking representation, how to successfully negotiate the music industry, how this all helps Australian bands and music, their new singing with rock band ORGY, future developments and more.


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Interview by Kris Peters
Australian music was a melting pot of talent in the early 90s with bands like Tumbleweed, Regurgitator, Spiderbait, Magic Dirt and the Superjesus planting the initial seeds that would see them still knocking crowds dead to this day - some 30 years later.
Punk upstarts the Hard-Ons were also a major player in the thriving scene, but it is an offshoot of that band - formed after internal bickering led to one of the band's many breakups - called Nunchukka Superfly who made perhaps the biggest impact of them all despite never releasing an album and disbanding after a few short years.
In that time Nunchukka Superfly - Ray Ahn and Peter Black from Hard-Ons, Massappeal drummer Peter Allen and former Harpoon frontman and future Drones co-founder (and now JJ McCann Transmission main man) James McCann - earnt a fierce reputation as a must see live band, managing to record an albums worth of material that was seemingly lost to the ether and never to be seen or heard again.
Until now.
The masters of that album found their way back into the hands of McCann, who dutifully passed them along to the rest of the band, ensuring the collection of now timeless punk rock tunes would finally see the light of day.
The band released Nunchukka Superfly 95 earlier this year and announced a run of shows in celebration, proving there's still life in the legs and lungs of this Australian musical enigma. And where there's life, there's hope, as evidenced by the fact Blackie and James reached out to us here at HEAVY to talk about the past, present and future of Nunchukka Superfly.
We start with the album and ask how it felt to finally release it after so many years.
"I guess you could call it strange," Blackie mused, "but at the same time it felt really good, and I think we can thank James for that because I didn't even have a copy of the recordings. I forgot what it was like even. But James got in touch about a year and a half ago and said mate, have you heard that fucken thing we did all those many moons ago? It's really ferocious. We should release it and I remember thinking yeah, yeah, maybe one day. He sent me a copy, and I was like holy fuck he's right. This is mad."
"I had it on cassette for years," James added. "And I think we all had a cassette copy initially, but I wore that out eventually. In Sydney Jason, who recorded it, was working across the road from where I lived at the Hopeton Hotel on the weekends, and he said I have that DAT tape of that Nunchukka Superfly recording, do you want a copy? I said yes, and I sat on that for years because I didn't have a DAT player (laughs). I had access to this old 90s DAT player about ten years ago at a friend's studio, so we plugged in the old player and put the cassette in and BAM, there it was loud and clear, and somehow I had stored it away well enough to obviously have not lost it. That was the start, then I got it digitized and sent it to Blackie and Ray."
In the full interview, Blackie and James talk more about the release of their debut album, Nunchucka Superfly 95, after many years, and the upcoming reunion shows. They shared their memories of the band's formation, their last show in 1996, and their chemistry during the first jam session, expressing excitement about the reunion and the potential for future collaborations.
Blackie and James also discussed the process of obtaining and digitizing the original recording of their debut album, emphasizing that no alterations were made to the original recording. They reflected on the quality of the music and the positive reactions on social media and strong initial sales, including overseas interest, and expressed pride and gratitude for the continued interest in their music after so many years.


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Interview by Kris Peters
JJ McCann is a musician well-travelled, negotiating over 30 years in the Australian music industry with his soul and integrity intact.
Better known as one of the founding members of Nunchukka Superfly and his work with The Drones, McCann has busied himself with other just as talented bands over the years, with the one common denominator being McCann's driven approach to his craft and his humble and unassuming nature.
Last year McCann released his first album under the monicker of JJ McCann Transmission called Hit With Love, collaborating with legendary producer Rob Younger of Radio Birdman and the New Christs who produced every second great Australian rock record in the 80s and 90s (Died Pretty, Hard-Ons, Lime Spiders, Celibate Rifles, Hoodoo Gurus). It proved a masterstroke for McCann, who reached a much wider audience with the album and created enough quality material to still be drawing singles from the album almost 12 months later.
But talk to McCann and you get the impression his days of caring about status or success in music are long behind him - if in fact they were ever there. Instead, you get an artist who creates music for the thrill and love of the final result and the opportunity to share a common love with friends.
Just the way it should be.
With Nunchukka Superfly finally releasing their debut album recently and about to go on tour, McCann is understandably busy these days, but not too busy to be down for a chat with HEAVY.
"It was officially released last year," he said of the new solo album. "It was kind of a staggered thing that was followed by a couple of film clips, with the last one coming out in March called Amphibious Skin. It's been going well. It's been released here in Melbourne on CheerSquad Records and co-released with French label Beast Records. It's the first record I've released in Australia in 14 years. Everything else I've released in Spain or France, generally because there wasn't a lot of independent labels around 15 years ago, believe it or not. It's picked up a bit since then in Australia."
In the full interview, JJ talks more about Hit With Love and the writing and recording process, working with Rob Younger, what sorts of things Younger contributed to the overall sound of the album, the changing tides of music and the importance of sticking to your own path, the release of Nunchukka Superfly's debut album and upcoming shows, future plans and more.


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Interview by Kris Peters
Not content with fronting one of this country's most loved rock outfits in Hammers or saddling up behind the kit with blues funk trio Hot Cobra, Gold Coast-based singer, songwriter and guitarist Lucas Stone has now thrown his considerable clout behind his solo project, recently releasing the wicked 5 track EP Deathbed.
As if juggling two other bands with a hectic personal schedule wasn't enough, Stone also decided to write and perform the EP on his own, enlisting the help of a select group of musicians to add vocals and depth to his musical vision.
Raw, caustic and welding Stone's love for authentic emotion within heavy music with malevolent riff violence, Deathbed is simultaneously cohesive and yet stylistically indefinable; a true representation of who Stone is, his passion for the heavy realms, and what he has journeyed through to reach this point in his career.
HEAVY caught up with Lucas Stone last night to chat about the EP and more.
"Really cool," he replied when asked how Deathbed has been received since coming out on May 31. "I'm pretty busy with the Hammers stuff and I have squeezed this in amongst everything else. I had a bit of help from Tiana, but I was a little bit rattled from what was going on. I was maybe a little vacant for parts of it, and then it happened and was out, and the reception has been amazing. A lot of messages from fans of Helm and Hammers and even just friends and people that have followed my career online. It blows you away. It's cool to see people connecting with it on a level you hope the music does."
We ask Stone to tell us more about what he was going for musically on Deathbed.
"Honestly, I was going for nothing," he shrugged. "This was the release that… I've had some decent success across a handful of bands - namely Scalene, Tension, Helm and Hammers - and I'm happy with that. Those four bands specifically have given me a really cool, left of centre career in music. I'm no rock star, but I don't really care too much. It's more about the fact that I've been able to write this music with my own sense of integrity and no pressure from outside influence. I'm quite a selfish songwriter, I will admit to that, which has probably been detrimental to my career (laughs). This one specifically rings true with that more than any of them because I didn't even have any reflective sounding boards off anyone, because I wasn't in a band forum. It was all 100% a selfish project where it was 'I wanna do this' or 'I wanna do that, and I'm just gonna do it how I wanna do it."
In the full interview, Lucas talks more about the musical side of Deathbed, the guest artists who appear and why and how he chose them, playing everything himself and how that created a different sounding release, how Deathbed defines him as an artist and person, touring plans, upcoming stuff from Hammers and more.


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Interview by Kris Peters
When it comes to iconic metal bands, they don't come much better than Flotsam & Jetsam.
Since pummelling their way onto the scene with their crushing debut album Doomsday For The Deceiver almost 40 years ago, Flotsam & Jetsam have ridden the wave that is thrash metal almost too faithfully, preferring to remain loyal to the calling despite the perceived conforming of other bands from their era.
It is a stance that may have possibly cost the band greater worldwide success, but in sticking to their musical beliefs and morals has ensured Flotsam & Jetsam have survived with not only their integrity intact but also the love and respect of their fans.
With the band on the cusp of releasing their 15th studio album, I Am The Weapon, on September 13, HEAVY spent some time with drummer Ken Mary to take a look inside the inner sanctum that is Flotsam & Jetsam.
"It's a new killer album," he said proudly. "I feel like we've done a great job on the last two albums, and I think this third one is… I don't wanna say anything, but it might be the best one yet. We'll find out."
We ask Ken if the band feels any pressure going into a new album release with the burden of a massive fan-based expectation each time.
"Honestly, we did," he nodded. "We feel the pressure pretty much on every record. I feel like the last four albums have been kind of a renaissance for Flotsam & Jetsam, and it's kind of like a new era, if you wanna say that. Like a new era for the band. And every time there's a new album, we're always wondering if we can top the last one (laughs). When we finished The End Of Chaos, we thought wow, how are we ever gonna top this album? Then we came out with Blood In The Water, and I feel like we topped Chaos with that. When we finished Blood In The Water, we were like oh my gosh, how are we gonna top this record? This time we definitely felt the pressure. We felt things like do we have enough gas in the tank to make something that will at least equal that? So we just started writing, and we wrote a ton of songs, and then we started eliminating songs and finishing songs and by the time we were done we were like, yeah, I think we can at least equal it, and hopefully we topped it. I've had some people that have heard it - and I'm talking about all the records, including the first two albums - say to me that this is the best Flotsam album yet. Ever. That's pretty good when you hear that. It's so tough to compete with nostalgia. When somebody talks about the first few albums that they grew up with, it's really hard to beat that, and for somebody to say that and be sincere… that's quite a compliment."
In the full interview, Ken talks about the musical side of I Am The Weapon, the opening track A New Kind Of Hero and experimenting with the album intro, the band's writing process and their conscious effort to retain their thrash DNA in new music, surviving 40 years as a band, how he is settling into Flotsam & Jetsam, coming into an established band and keeping your own musical identity, touring plans and more.

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Interview by Kris Peters
Grinspoon have flown the flag for Australian rock since bursting onto the scene after winning the Triple J Unearthed contest with the song Sickfest in 1995. They released their debut, self-titled EP that same year which included that song plus More Than You Are before unleashing their second EP Licker Bottle Cozy the following year, featuring Champion.
In September 1997 Grinspoon released their debut album Guide To Better Living which became the staple sonic diet for disenfranchised youth everywhere with its punchy, aggressive punk/rock hybrid that was catchy as fuck and even more addictive.
The band went from strength to strength from there, releasing a succession of successful albums such as Easy, New Detention and Thrills Kills & Sunday Pills, but it was on the live circuit that Grinspoon basked in glory. Their wild, unpredictable and entertaining live shows helped Grinspoon become a regular on pretty much every Australian music festival since 1995, with demand continuing to this day despite the fact their last album called Black Rabbits was released over a decade ago.
But 2024 is set to become the Year Of Grinspoon following the release of their first new single in twelve years, Unknown Pretenders. The song is a direct throw back to the band's earlier stuff and has fans both old and new salivating at the prospect of their new album Whatever, Whatever which is slated for an August 9 release.
But that's not all.
Grinspoon have also announced an extensive 45-date national tour starting in September and finishing in December that will see the band hit capital cities and regional venues, including more than 20 all-ages shows.
Guitarist Pat Davern joined HEAVY to talk about the exciting new developments in the Grinspoon camp, starting with the reception for Unknown Pretenders.
"I think it's been pretty good. Well, my Mum and Dad love it," he joked. "To be honest with you, things seem to be going really well. The tour went on sale and tickets are selling really fast, and in this climate, with the amount of bands out there that are touring, we're very happy about that. It was the first cab off the rank. We've probably got a couple more singles to go before we release the album, and I think it's been a great… return to form is a good way to describe Unknown Pretenders."
Unknown Pretenders saw a relatively low-key release with little advance promotion. It was a simple, yet effective way of releasing the new single, but we question Davern as to why the band chose to release the track without a massive social media campaign.
"You're right. We didn't do any social media or any big build up to it," he agreed. "I think when we recorded the album, we weren't sure how it was all gonna play out. We wanted to do something that we're really proud of, and it had been twelve years since we recorded an album, and we didn't want it to be shit. And if it was shit, then we weren't gonna release it (laughs). So we thought it would be best to keep it on the quiet until we were really happy with the results. We got there, and we are really happy with the results. The fanfare starts now, on HEAVY mag!"
Unknown Pretenders is definitely a return to form for Grinspoon, more closely resembling their early material than anything that has come since. We ask if that song was chosen as the first single to make a statement of sorts.
"It definitely was," Davern nodded. "It was kind of… for us to put out music after such a long time, we wanted it to be a statement. We wanted our old fans, and, I guess, our new fans - because we're almost a generational band now. A lot of people's kids are into it, where their parents were into the band when we first started. We wanted it to be something we could hang our hat on and say we're back."
In the full interview, Pat discusses Unknown Pretenders in more detail, how the single kicks off a new era for Grinspoon, the upcoming...