Heavy Music Interviews
Heavy Culture: Living Colour on Their Upbringings, Pandemic Life, and Getting Out the Vote
Heavy Culture is a monthly column from journalist Liz Ramanand, focusing on artists of different cultural backgrounds in heavy music as they offer their perspectives on race, society, and more as it intersects with and affects their music. The latest installment of this column features an interview with the Living Colour drummer Will Calhoun, guitarist Vernon Reid and bassist Doug Wimbish. Since 1985, Living Colour have blended rock, metal, and blues to form a sound all their own, inspiring many artists along the way. This year, the rock pioneers are celebrating 30 years of their sophomore album, Time’s Up, which yielded such hits as “Type”, “Love Rears Its Ugly Head”, and “Elvis Is Dead”. This edition of “Heavy Culture” spans several months, as we first caught up with the members of Livin...
Maynard James Keenan on “Arrogant” Pandemic Behavior: “There’s Logic Attached to Just Looking Out for Each Other”
Maynard James Keenan recently revealed that he battled COVID-19 earlier this year and is still feeling the residual effects months later. Unfortunately, the singer of Tool, Puscifer, and A Perfect Circle fears any serious warning that he or others give about coronavirus is “just going to fall on deaf ears.” In interviews with Arizona Republic and The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Keenan disclosed that he contracted COVID when Tool were on tour in Australia and New Zealand in late February. Eight months later, he still has lung damage, leading to daily coughing fits. Tragically, the United States is currently experiencing its worst single-day infection numbers yet, with roughly 100,000 people testing positive for COVID-19 every 24 hours. To this day, there’s a large contingent of the popula...
Puscifer’s Maynard James Keenan and Mat Mitchell on Existential Reckoning, Alien Abduction, and More
In the midst of a pandemic and a truly bizarre year, it somehow feels like an ideal time for Puscifer to release a new album. The experimental rock act is back with a new LP, Existential Reckoning, and it’s a fitting document of the times, even if that wasn’t intentional. Led by a core of Maynard James Keenan (Tool), Mat Mitchell, and Carina Round, Puscifer have often thrown out the rulebook when it comes to rock ‘n’ roll. Each album is surrounded by eccentric characters, while the music is equally unconventional. Existential Reckoning is no exception, picking up on the story of the fictional characters Billy D (apparently now abducted by aliens) and his wife, Hildy Berger, as it had left off with 2015’s Money Shot. The new album is shrouded in a cloud of alien activity, from its init...
Mike Patton on Reuniting Mr. Bungle, Navigating the Pandemic, and More
Mr. Bungle (Mike Patton center), photo by Eric Larsen Prior to the pandemic, Mike Patton had countless irons in the musical fire. While his touring plans came to a standstill, the singer has soldiered on with his many creative endeavors. One of those projects is the first album in 21 years from his reunited band Mr. Bungle. Mr. Bungle reunited earlier this year for a handful of shows in February, featuring a lineup that included original members Patton, Trey Spruance, and Trevor Dunn, along with thrash titans Dave Lombardo (ex-Slayer, Suicidal Tendencies) and Scott Ian (Anthrax). In addition to the concerts, news came that the same lineup would re-record Mr. Bungle’s 1986 demo The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny. The re-recording, due October 30th, features the songs from original trackli...
Pallbearer’s Joseph Rowland Talks Forgotten Days and the Importance of Releasing Music During the Pandemic
Pallbearer are a true heavy metal success story. Arising from the humble Arkansas metal scene, the band sharpened its craft in the underground and forged its own artistic path, rising up the food chain to become one of the most respected American doom bands. This would eventually lead Pallbearer to heavyweight label Nuclear Blast, who signed the group last year. Symbolically, it signaled that Pallbearer had officially arrived, and that the years of work had paid off. Like the great doom bands of yore — Candlemass, Solitude Aeturnus, Cathedral — Pallbearer infuse their doom with a palpable emotional weight that verges on spiritual. Good riffs are only part of the equation. It’s the human energy and expression that drives the band’s music and spine-chilling live performances. That energy hit...
Spirit Adrift Show the Joy of Classic Metal on “Screaming From Beyond”: Video Premiere + Interview
“I don’t remember pain,” Nate Garrett sings over the stomping guitar riff that opens “Screaming from Beyond,” the newest song from the upcoming Spirit Adrift upcoming album, Enlightened in Eternity. It’s a somewhat ironic lyric, considering that the band’s new LP often reflects on the pain of mortal existence. The song and its accompanying video are premiering right here at Heavy Consequence. “Screaming from Beyond” features an anthemic chorus and pristine melodic vocals, evoking the supernatural and stadium-ready sounds of perennial metal gods like Mercyful Fate, Dio, and Ozzy Osbourne. Close your eyes and it almost sounds like a band that could have opened one of the “Clash of the Titans” tours. But its contemplative and esoteric lyrical approach is modern, and 100-percent indicative of ...
Beyond the Boys’ Club: Orianthi
Beyond the Boys’ Club is a monthly column from journalist and radio host Anne Erickson, focusing on women in the heavy music genres, as they offer their perspectives on the music industry and discuss their personal experiences. This month’s piece features an interview with acclaimed guitarist Orianthi. Australian guitarist, singer, and songwriter Orianthi has performed with some of the biggest acts in the world, from Michael Jackson to Alice Cooper. Back in 2009, Orianthi was knee-deep into rehearsals for Michael Jackson’s “This Is It” tour, but sadly, Jackson passed away before the tour could come to fruition. That same year, she scored a solo hit with “According to You”, and she went on to join Alice Cooper’s band for two world tours. Now, Orianthi keeps busy with her own solo music and ...
Lamb of God’s Willie Adler Talks Coffee, Bill & Ted, and Livestream Shows
Lamb of God’s Willie Adler, photo by Antonio Marino Jr. During a pandemic that’s drastically altered the day-to-day operations of the music industry, Lamb of God have forged ahead. The metal veterans released their new self-titled studio album in June, despite not being able to tour in support of the LP. And the decision brought much-needed joy to metal fans everywhere, as the album ranks among Lamb of God’s finest works. Upon completing the album, the band was then commissioned to write a song for Bill & Ted Face the Music. The film’s music supervisor handpicked the Lamb of God, who delivered “The Death of Us”, a crushing anthem to friendship that cemented 2020 as a veritably productive year artistically for the band. With one full-length and a major soundtrack appearance in the...
Marilyn Manson on WE ARE CHAOS, Pandemic Life, New Wave Influences, and Favorite David Bowie Album
Marilyn Manson is set to unveil his 11th studio album, WE ARE CHAOS, this Friday (September 11th). In advance of its release, the rocker checked in with Heavy Consequence to discuss the new LP, and more. Following up his critically acclaimed 2017 album, Heaven Upside Down, Manson recruited Shooter Jennings to produce WE ARE CHAOS. While the recently released title track is an infectious mid-tempo, glam-rock number, the rest of the album explores the heavy and melodic extremes of Manson’s canon. Manson was set to support Ozzy Osbourne on tour this year, but those dates were canceled in order for the latter to seek medical treatments for various health issues. As it turned out, the tour would have been nixed anyway due to the pandemic. During our conversation with the Manson, he spoke of his...
Avatar’s Johannes Eckerström Talks Hunter Gatherer, Pandemic, and Corey Taylor’s Musical Assist
Even when the world is turned upside down, we can count on Avatar to churn out an opus of groovy, melodic metal that sings and soars. That’s just what you’ll find on the Swedish metal band’s eighth studio album, Hunter Gatherer, due out Friday, August 7th. Spearheaded by lead single… Please click the link below to read the full article. Avatar’s Johannes Eckerström Talks Hunter Gatherer, Pandemic, and Corey Taylor’s Musical Assist Anne Erickson You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you back power. Get to meet Beautiful people, chat and make money in the process. Earn rewards by chatting, sharing photos, blogging and help give users back their fair share of In...
The Sword’s J.D. Cronise Talks New Compilations, Bootlegging Rare Clutch Tracks, and His Band’s Future
Modern stoner rock owes a major debt to The Sword. Formed in 2003 in Austin, the band’s propensity for Black Sabbath-influenced doom and desert grooves predated the subculture that suddenly emerged from the stoner rock scene in the 2010s. Suddenly, remote fans of bands like Sleep and Electric Wizard were connected by the familiar churning sounds of these bands. The Sword played a vital role in this movement, with their 2006 debut album, Age of Winters, and its lead single, the now legendary “Freya”, cementing their place in doom metal lore. It was a time of resurgence for classic rock, a new era of teenagers were discovering Led Zeppelin and Sabbath, and “Freya” garnered The Sword a cult audience of eager rock fans. Their music even reached Lars Ulrich of Metallica, who would eventually ta...
Beyond the Boys’ Club: Maria Brink of In This Moment
Beyond the Boys’ Club is a monthly column from journalist and radio host Anne Erickson, focusing on women in the heavy music genres, as they offer their perspectives on the music industry and discuss their personal experiences. This month’s piece features an interview with Maria Brink of In This Moment. In This Moment reinvent themselves from album to album, so it’s no surprise that the band’s latest record, Mother, has a fresh style and feel. Their previous LP, 2017’s Ritual, was a concept album of sorts, centering around the Salem Witch Trials. Mother is a deeply personal and serious album lyrically, with solid rock riffing, experimental electronics, and singer Maria Brink’s soulful vocals. Mother was released in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the band choosing not to postpone ...
