Podcast
HEAVY Music Interviews
Hosted by HEAVY Magazine · EN
All the latest music interviews from the team at HEAVY Magazine.
HEAVY interviews the worlds leading rock, punk, metal and beyond musicians in the heavy universe of music.
We will upload the latest interviews regularly so before to follow our social accounts and our podcast account on www.speaker.com/user/heavy
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.
HEAVY interviews the worlds leading rock, punk, metal and beyond musicians in the heavy universe of music.
We will upload the latest interviews regularly so before to follow our social accounts and our podcast account on www.speaker.com/user/heavy
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.
133episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Teaching Old Bulls New Tricks With LINK MEANIE
4w ago00:14:17Tap to summarizeThe Meanies are absolute legends of Australian punk rock, and they are tearing through 2026 like a runaway train. Formed in Melbourne back in 1988, these sonic maniacs have spent nearly four decades delivering chaotic, high-energy pop-punk packed with hooks and bruises. Fronted by the indestructible Link Meanie, they are a band that leaves everything on the stage - literally - known for chaotic live sets that frequently end with broken gear or broken bones. After surviving decades of rock 'n' roll storms, they are still one of the most vital, loud, and uncompromising underground bands in the country.If you think these veteran punks are slowing down, you are dead wrong. The rest of 2026 is completely packed with heavy riffs, interstate chaos, and killer new wax. The band is currently crisscrossing the country on a huge national run. They are teaming up with their longtime brothers-in-arms, Spiderbait, acting as the main support on the massive Ivy & The Big Apples anniversary tour. This means they are bringing their blistering noise to huge venues like Adelaide's Hindley Street Music Hall on 25 July and Canberra's legendary venue The Baso on 30 July.Right after the arena-sized rock shows, The Meanies are jumping straight back into the sweaty club trenches. They have joined forces with Queensland punk unit Dad Fight for a brutal split 7-inch vinyl release featuring fresh tracks from both bands. Dubbed "the old bull and the young calf, together at last," they are launching the wax with a lethal East Coast tour. HEAVY caught up with Link Meanie to find out more, asking how the body is holding up these days."Oh, pretty shit," he laughed. "Yeah, I was just rueing selling the comfy chair that I had here, and now I'm just sitting on a drum stool. My back's fucking killing me! I've done so much damage over the years that I knew it would come back and bite me at some stage."We follow up by asking Link if he finds the need to do more stretches and warm-ups now before hitting the stage."The only time I was ever fit in my life was probably the turn of the millennium when I was doing Kung Fu, and I was actually quite fit then," he smiled. "God, I'm a couch potato now (laughs)."In the full interview, we chat more about life on the road and the perils of ageing. We discussed still touring with Spiderbait and Link's memories of the very first time they played together, as well as a list of upcoming shows this year.The run of shows with Dad Fight was discussed, including the nurturing role The Meanies play when hitting the road with the next generation of bands. We talked about the 7" split single release between The Meanies and Dad Fight and where to get it, as well as the possibility of a new album in the near future and more.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.
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Manifesting Your Desires With PLINI
4w ago00:13:19Tap to summarizeSydney six-string maestro Plini has just unleashed his monumental third studio album, An Unnameable Desire, and it is a certified masterpiece. For a musician who already operates in the absolute stratosphere of technical guitar playing, this new record pushes his sonic boundaries into completely uncharted territory. It is heavier, prettier, more complex, and utterly brilliant.If you thought his previous masterpieces like Handmade Cities or Impulse Voices were the pinnacle of modern guitar music, prepare to have your mind completely blown. An Unnameable Desire is a cinematic rollercoaster that perfectly balances jaw-dropping polyrhythms with celestial jazz-fusion soundscapes. Plini has reunited with his powerhouse rhythm section—bassist Simon Grove and drummer Chris Allison—to create something truly magical. The album also features mind-melting guest spots from Polish guitar icon Jakub Zytecki and experimental harpist Emily Hopkins. It is an ambitious, beautiful sonic journey that demands your full attention from the very first note.But the masterclass doesn’t stop in the studio. Plini is about to take this new material on the road for the massive An Unnameable Desire Australia and New Zealand Tour this August. This isn’t just your standard run-of-the-mill club shows. Plini is promising his biggest, most immersive live production to date, complete with an incredible international and local lineup. Joining him on this epic trek are UK math-rock heavyweights Delta Sleep, Melbourne progressive newcomers Nightdive, and the phenomenal solo project Cenobia. It is a dream bill for anyone who loves their riffs complex and their melodies massive.The tour kicks off on August 6 at Brisbane's Princess Theatre, before tearing through Sydney's Liberty Hall, Melbourne's Northcote Theatre, Adelaide's Lion Arts Factory, and Magnet House in Perth. Today, we are diving deep into the creative madness behind the new record, the pressure of evolving his sound, and what fans can expect from this monster live show. Grab a cold one, settle in, and check out our full chat with the man himself, Plini!"I will be playing a lot of the new album and a lot of the older stuff that people seem to love," he revealed. "It's going to be really fun. We just did it in Europe for about four or five weeks, and the new stuff was especially fun to play."We ask Plini how different it is playing to audiences overseas compared to those in Australia."It depends on the place," he measured. "I think in general, everywhere they get into it as much, but their way of showing it can be different. The music I make… some of it is energetic, but it's not always so there will be a lot of people just standing and watching, and they could be having an amazing time, but it's not necessarily the same feedback as seeing a circle pit (laughs) or people moshing."In the full interview, Plini talks more about the tour and what we can expect, overseas crowds and how they relate to his music, connecting with fans on different levels, his new album and what to expect, plus more.Tickets https://www.plini.co/anztourBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.
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YOU AM I Pull Some Strings To Give New Life To Some Old Loves
Jul 1300:08:33Tap to summarizeInterview by Ali WilliamsThere are few bands in Australia who can announce they are taking a string quartet on tour and not have the nation immediately clutching its pearls in fear of acoustic violations. You Am I, thankfully, are not most bands. When HEAVY’s Ali Williams caught up with bassist Andy Kent, the news was as unexpected as it was oddly perfect: You Am I are heading into theatre territory with a string quartet in tow, giving selected songs from across their catalogue a more considered, cinematic, and potentially spine-tingling treatment. And no, before anyone starts picturing a heritage rock band gently apologising for distortion, Andy was quick to make it clear this is not about turning You Am I into something polite, sleepy, or suspiciously beige.Check out the full interview for more.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.
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Returning To Your Roots With HORST TESSMANN From STORMHAMMER
Jul 1300:16:19Tap to summarizeInterview by Angela CroudaceGerman power metal veterans StormHammer are embracing a heavier, more aggressive direction on their upcoming album Wrath of the Hammer, due for release on July 17, while still staying true to their melodic foundations.Bassist Horst Tessmann revealed the album marks a deliberate shift back towards the sound of Welcome to the End after the more melodic approach of Seven Seals. Following years of lineup changes and delays, he said the band is finally where they want to be creatively."The title track represents the new album and the style of the band quite well," Horst explained, describing it as the perfect introduction to StormHammer's evolved sound.Rather than drawing from any single influence, Horst credited guitarists Phil and Christos for naturally blending classic heavy metal, thrash, progressive and punk elements into the songwriting. He also praised producer Alexander Krull, whose experience as a vocalist helped push singer Manuel into delivering more emotionally charged performances.Although Australian fans may have to wait for a live appearance due to touring costs, Horst said StormHammer hopes strong support for Wrath of the Hammer could eventually make it happen, but the band are already looking ahead, with work on their next album underway and a planned release targeted for autumn 2027.Check out the full interview for more.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.
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Prepare For Annihilation With DAVE HALEY From PSYCROPTIC
Jul 1200:13:59Tap to summarizeLet’s be honest: when you talk about Aussie heavy music, you cannot look past the absolute legends in Psycroptic. For over twenty-five years, these boys from Hobart have been wave-makers. They show the rest of the world that Australia doesn’t just do metal; we master it. Led by the unstoppable Haley brothers - Dave laying down machine-gun drum beats and Joe ripping absolute shred-fests on guitar - Psycroptic have built a reputation on sheer, relentless hard work.Now, they are gearing up to unleash their ninth studio weapon, The Pulse of Annihilation, landing July 17, 2026. And it gets better. They have officially signed with the absolute giants at Metal Blade Records, proving that true Australian grit always cuts through on the global stage.The album is heavy, it is experimental, and it is exactly what the scene needs. This isn’t a band resting on its laurels. They are pushing boundaries, raising bars, and fixing to hit the road this August with Rivers of Nihil for what will easily be the tour of the year. Get your pre-orders sorted, lock in your tickets, and support local metal.HEAVY sat down with drummer Dave Haley to get the lowdown, asking how he is feeling with the album release imminent."It's pretty good," he smiled. "We're all very excited in the band. We feel like we're in a creative hotspot at the moment, and we're definitely not tired of the band or over it. It feels like… at least over the last couple of years, it's been a new lease on the band's life. We're nervous but happy."We ask Dave to dive deeper into the musical side of The Pulse of Annihilation and what Psycroptic were going for this time around."We never really know how an album's going to turn out until it's finished, to be honest," he measured. "It sounds pretty cliché, but we just let the songs write themselves. So by the end of the process, when we sat and listened to it, I noticed it was a bit more of a mid-tempo, mid-paced album than previous albums. Maybe a lot more catchy on the first listen as well. With anything Psycroptic, we just try to build on what we've done before or try to move into some new territories for us. There are definitely some fun songs to play. It's hard to appreciate the songs until you've had a bit of a minute and sat back from the recording process."In the full interview, we explore the musical side of The Pulse of Annihilation in more detail, including the singles released and how they reflect the album overall. We talked about entering a new sonic chapter with the band, highlighting the growing chemistry between the dual vocalists Jason Peppiatt and Jason Keyser, who are on their second album together now.Dave told us about the album cover art and what it represents, and also spoke about signing with Metal Blade Records and what it means for Psycroptic moving forward. Their upcoming home town shows were discussed, as was the August tour with Rivers Of Nihil, plus more.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.
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SCREAMFEEDER: Still Keeping At It After A Million Years
Jul 1000:13:02Tap to summarizeInterview by Ali WilliamsSCREAMFEEDER, the beloved Brisbane Indie Rock Trio, formed back in 1991, and in 2026 have proven to be one of this country's influential groups in the industry. They’re best known for turning down major-label offers throughout the 90’s as a way of maintaining their independence and ultimately having control over where and how their music was created and displayed. Their decision to do this inspired an entire generation of Australian alternative musicians by showing them that they had options and to seriously consider exercising them.Tim Steward has been doing this long enough to know when a band is repeating itself, when a room feels right, and when a stranger in her twenties accidentally delivers the funniest career review imaginable.Speaking with HEAVY’s Ali Williams ahead of Screamfeeder’s run of July shows, Steward was relaxed, generous and wonderfully unfazed by the fact that his band has now lived through more musical eras than most streaming services have patience for. Screamfeeder are not a band having a comeback, exactly. Comebacks are for acts that disappeared properly. Screamfeeder never really did. They just wandered through the strange machinery of time, vinyl reissues, loyal punters, new songs, old bruises, and the occasional “last ever show” that, naturally, turned out to be no such thing.“We’ve been around for a million years,” Steward laughed, which is not strictly true but emotionally accurate enough to pass in court.The band are currently working on new material, though Tim is the first to admit it is moving at the sort of pace that suggests creativity has its own union and refuses to be rushed on a Monday. After eight albums, the challenge is not whether Screamfeeder can still write songs. That part is handled. The problem is making sure they do not fall back into old habits simply because those habits know where the kettle is.Check out the full interview for more.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.
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Victim Or Villain: A Sonic Journey With AMANDA LYBERG From EVA UNDER FIRE
Jul 900:13:48Tap to summarizeDetroit rock quintet Eva Under Fire are about to unleash their most ambitious, vulnerable, and absolutely crushing record to date with Villainous, dropping on July 10, 2026, via Better Noise Music. If you thought their 2022 debut Love, Drugs & Misery pushed boundaries, then strap yourselves in, because this new 13-track monster completely redraws the map. It is a gritty, cinematic concept album built from the ashes of self-destruction and forged into a massive, heavy anthem of reclaiming power.Led by frontwoman Amanda Lyberg - who masterfully balances her dual life as a licensed therapist and a powerhouse rock vocalist - the band dives straight into the darkest corners of human emotion. They have traded compliance for complete defiance. Nowhere is this more obvious than on the blistering title track, featuring a monumental vocal pairing with Maria Brink of In This Moment. It is laced with late-'90s industrial crunch combined with a fierce, modern punch that proves standing up for your truth sometimes means looking like the bad guy to everyone you left behind.From the explosive opening salvos of Awakening to the unapologetic, venomous delivery of Murder Scene, Villainous is an unflinching look at grief, identity, and hard-won self-acceptance. This isn't just standard radio rock; it's a statement of absolute confidence from a band that has already amassed over 100 million streams and dominated the Billboard charts.HEAVY caught up with the phenomenal Amanda Lyberg to dissect the creative chaos behind the record."It's an exciting time," she enthused. "It feels like a long time coming. We spent two years writing this album, which feels like forever when you're so focused on playing live shows. It feels really great to finally be at a point where we're releasing it and getting back into the swing of things and seeing all our hard work come to fruition."We ask Amanda to tell us what Eva Under Fire were going for musically with Villainous."Album one felt great, but it felt like there were a lot of people telling us what we were supposed to be doing," she sighed. "So this time around, it was way more important for us to say no, we're gonna throw out the rule book and do what we wanna do. We wanna say what we wanna say. We wanna say it how we wanna say it. And I was very excited that my guys were all happy, it was going to be more of an Amanda kind of lyrics on this album. I feel like it was more poetic; I feel like it was darker and grittier and had a lot of honest themes. It felt more like a self-discovery journey and a lot more authentic than the first record. We really felt like we were stepping into our own writing this album."In the full interview, we explored the singles released and how they represent the album, the more personal nature of the lyrics and how Villainous differs from their debut album Love, Drugs And Misery. Amanda talks about her vocation as a professional therapist and how the music world combined with that side of her personality in the creative process.Amanda also spoke about the ambiguity in the album title, as well as the charity that Eva Under Fire donated portions of their takings to for the title track. We talked about the band's transition from being a garage band to now playing stadiums and how that has impacted dynamics along the way, their current massive tour and the chances of it coming to Australia and more.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.
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Spreading Chaos Through The Orthodox With ADAM EASTERLING
Jul 800:16:01Tap to summarizeAustralia, get ready to have your faces completely melted because some spectacular savagery is heading down under this winter. Floridian metalcore titans Wage War are returning to our shores for their first-ever nationwide headline tour, and if you think they’re coming alone to play nice, you are dead wrong. They are bringing one of the most vicious live acts on the planet today to help them tear down venues across the country: Nashville’s very own heavy-hitters, Orthodox.Led by the chaotic energy of frontman Adam Easterling, Orthodox are a unique but undeniable powerhouse that absolutely refuses to compromise. These guys have made nu-metal feel genuinely new and dangerous again. They take the absolute best elements of Converge’s start-and-stop metallic hardcore, throw it in a blender with the unhinged fury of early Slipknot and Korn, and channel it through their own signature, modern style. It is a molten alloy of sonic violence that hits you like a freight train, reminiscent of Knocked Loose or Harm’s Way but with an entirely different breed of aggression.Having just dropped their massive fifth studio album, A Door Left Open, Orthodox are returning to Australia with a massive point to prove. Aussie fans got a small taste of their visceral live show last year when they supported Stray From The Path on their final run down under, but this time around, the gloves are completely off. This isn't just music; it's a therapeutic, audio beatdown.This epic winter tour is shaping up to be an absolute ripper. Melbourne demand has already forced a massive venue upgrade to the iconic Forum, while Brisbane's Tivoli and Sydney's Metro Theatre are selling out faster than a bad decision at 2:00 AM. Alongside local legends Heavensgate, Orthodox are primed to deliver a masterclass in pure, unadulterated hardcore violence. If your neck isn't broken by the end of their set, you simply weren't doing it right. Get your tickets now via Destroy All Lines before you’re left with major FOMO. Tickets HEREBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.
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The Distinguished Art of Staying Heavy - MAT SINNER Talks About SINNER's Final Album Release
Jul 700:20:14Tap to summarizeInterview by Ali WilliamsMost legacy bands eventually announce one final album before quietly discovering that "farewell" is a surprisingly flexible word. MAT SINNER never bothered with any of that. He simply got busy.For decades, the German bassist, songwriter and producer has been balancing more projects than most people have unread emails, with PRIMAL FEAR naturally becoming the priority. SINNER, the band that started it all, quietly slipped into the background. Not because the passion disappeared. Life just had other ideas.Then a handful of songs started stirring the creative pot..Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.
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Double Trouble Down Under With DANI FILTH And DEZ FAFARA
Jul 500:15:57Tap to summarizeLock up your eldest, dust off your leather, and brace your ear canals, because a metal storm of apocalyptic proportions is officially tracking straight for Australian shores! HEAVY is absolutely stoked to bring you a rare, face-to-face breakdown with two of the most uncompromising, venomous, and legendary frontmen to ever grace a festival stage: Dani Filth of black metal royalty Cradle of Filth and Dez Fafara, the groove-metal mastermind driving DevilDriver. After completely decimating the United States on their co-headlining run, these long-time partners-in-crime are packing up their Double Trouble tour and unleashing it on Aussie fans at massive stops like Sydney's Enmore Theatre and Brisbane's The Tivoli. We sat down with the iconic duo to find out exactly how they plan to tear our concert halls apart, why their brotherhood makes this the must-see ticket of the year, and just how chaotic things are going to get when they finally touch down down under."It worked really well in America," Dez enthused, "and it's two bands that are obviously quite different. But man, it really works. Our fans love Cradle. Cradle's fans love DevilDriver. And I think there's just something special. We've obviously done a lot of interviews, right? And a lot of people have said, you know, it's refreshing. Like this tour is refreshing. You're not getting just four or five of the same bands."Cradle Of Filth and DevilDriver Australian Tour DatesThursday 9th July BRISBANE, The TivoliFriday 10th July SYDNEY, The EnmoreSaturday 11th July MELBOURNE, The ForumTuesday 14th July ADELAIDE, Hindley Street Music HallThursday 16th July PERTH, The AstorTickets on sale: https://thephoenix.au/cradle-of-filth-and-devildriver/Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.
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