Heavy Weight Champ
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| Heavy Weight Champ | ||
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 Left to right, Luke Copeland, Dean Miller, Grant McCulloch
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| Background information | ||
| Origin |  Perth, Australia |
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| Genre(s) | Hard Rock Metal Progressive Rock |
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| Years active | 1999–present | |
| Label(s) | Sic Squared Records | |
| Website | Official website | |
| Members | ||
| Grant McCulloch Dean Miller Luke Copeland |
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Heavy Weight Champ is a three piece heavy rock band from Perth, Australia. Formed in 1999, the band is renowned for song writing of the highest calibre and their amazingly passionate and precise live shows. Lead by primary song writer, lead vocalist and guitarist Grant McCulloch, Heavy Weight Champ's early sounds were akin to influences such as Tool, Jeff Buckley, Deftones and Pearl Jam. As the band grew into its own space a new and intoxicating sound emerged, a sound best captured on the bands debut full length album Lo-Fi Funeral, released in 2006. Critically acclaimed Heavy Weight Champ have worked hard since their inception and are now considered one of Australia's premiere heavy music acts.
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[edit] History
During the mid nineties, founding Heavy Weight Champ members Grant McCulloch (vox/guitar), Dean Miller (drums) and Brad Alexander (guitar/vox) had played in several rock acts in country Victoria including Cringer, Notbigwotbox and Strange Neighbours. Toward the end of that decade the members were playing together in the alternative rock band Meld; the decision was made to move from their home towns of Wangaratta and Corowa to Melbourne to pursue their musical goals. After a last hurrah style vacation to Perth before the big move the group decided to head West due to the state’s superior lifestyle and burgeoning musical scene. Without a bass player ads were taken out and after auditioning several players including a vodka stealing drunkard, Luke Copeland arrived and a chord was struck immediately. He was signed up after the first jam and writing began in earnest. Mid 1999 guitarist and backing vocalist Brad Alexander, feeling the call of home, quit the band and returned to Victoria leaving Heavy Weight Champ without a primary guitarist. After auditioning numerous local players to no avail McCulloch took over primary guitar duties, from here on out, Heavy Weight Champ would not look back.
In late 1999, in only its second Perth show Heavy Weight Champ took out the Grosvenor Hotel's iconic "Twenty Minutes of Fame" competition. Over the next few months the band would win several more titles before going on to represent Western Australia at the National Campus Band Competition finals in Sydney, HWC would finish third in the country, all before the their first birthday. With studio time won from the competition Heavy Weight Champ recorded their first E.P Two Triple Zero at Perth's Pinnacle Studios with good friend Forrester Savell. The E.P was released mid 2000 and would go on to chart in the AIR top twenty for just under a year.
After an extensive national tour in 2001 with best mates Karnivool along in support, Heavy Weight Champ would return to the task of writing in 2002 with the express purpose of maturing their influence heavy sound. Toward the end of that year the band went into Watt Studios (a somewhat secret recording location responsible for several iconic Perth releases from bands such as Full Scale Deflection, Hope Here Gone and Karnivool) with friend Jarrad Hearman; trialling new tracks the result would be the WAMi nominated Grey Filters double A-side. Released mid 2003, the record showed a new command over contemporary heavy composition in the song "Filters" and a new fragility in the band's sound with the track "Grey". The release also contained radio edits of the singles and two live tracks. Heavy Weight Champ would capitalize on Grey Filters' positive reception in the Australian heavy music community with extensive tours at home and abroad with bands such as The Butterfly Effect, The Mark of Cain and Grinspoon.
During 2004 the band turned its focus inward weighing up the mounting costs of national tours and the need for another release. The decision was made to forgo the benefit of another E.P while the band's profile was high; instead they would bunker down to write the full length many had been waiting for. Kicking off with the few post Grey Filters tracks that had been written the band proceeded to work on album material at an upstairs studio in central Perth suburb of Subiaco. Questions began to arise as to the band's future and break-up rumours emerged as HWC retreated from the live scene to commit to the writing process exclusively. In late 2005 the band entered Perth's Loop Studio's with Jarrad Hearman to begin work on their debut full length record Lo-Fi Funeral. Material would be tracked and mixed throughout November and December before the final mix sessions took place at Melbourne's Sing Sing Studios in March 2006. The lead single This Revolution was release to radio in April with the album hitting shelves around the country mid May.
During 2006 Heavy Weight Champ returned to the national live circuit re-introducing fans to the band's punishing live shows. Lo-Fi Funeral has enjoyed critical and market acclaim and has seen Heavy Weight Champ head out on the national circuit several times in support of the new album. 2007 will see the band’s hard work continue with festivals and international supports booked along with further release from Lo-Fi Funeral and supporting national tours.
[edit] Discography
 Lo-Fi Funeral |
 Grey Filters |
 Two Triple Zero |
[edit] Lo-Fi Funeral
By late 2005, after almost two years away from the national live circuit Heavy Weight Champ had written the material that would become the band's debut full length release Lo-Fi Funeral. Again enlisting the services of friend Jarrad Hearman HWC entered Perth's Loop Studios in November to begin tracking. Always grand in vision the recording session quickly mutated into 20 hour days with each member crashing and burning more than once but as the material came to life the commitment to record intensified. Numerous obstacles including blown gear and a Dockers strike which stranded a good deal of the studios pro-tools rig on the Fremantle wharfs were overcome one way or another, highlights of the sessions were the visits by guest musicians including Clint Bogue of The Butterfly Effect and Ian Kenny of Karnivool on the track "Twentythree Degrees", Nadine Harmeston of Celladore on The Drama and Anthony Cormican on "A Darker Shade of Grey". Karl Thomas of Shock One would later collaborate on "Twentythree Degrees" as well. After the exhausting sessions at Loop and some time off over the Christmas break Grant McCulloch and Jarrad Hearman would complete the final mix downs at Melbourne's Sing Sing Studios in March of 2006. Finally, the record was mastered at Melbourne's Crystal Studios. The albums art work conceived by McCulloch and Joe Kapiteyn of Redroom Design in Perth is a nod to the old Bluenote sleeves made famous by jazz greats in the fifties, in keeping with a more organic aesthetic, lyrics were forgone in favour of track notes to give listeners a deeper insight into each track and its origins. Finally, on the 6th of May 2006, Heavy Weight Champ returned to their favourite venue in The Amplifier Bar to launch their debut full length album, Lo-Fi Funeral. The Dirty Secrets, Calerway and good friends Karnivool (in acoustic mode) played in support of the launch. Lo-Fi Funeral went on to sell out of its initial national pressing in three days, it would also be named WAMi album of the month, hit number one on Perth's iconic 78 Records local album charts, get voted into the top five Australian release of 2006 on Triple J's Full Metal Racket program and be named in the Top Ten releases of 2006 in The West Australian.
Track Listing
01 - This Revolution
02 - Part One: The Cause
03 - Among the Last Alone
04 - Worth Your Weight in Gold
05 - Blood Red Designs
06 - A Darker Shade of Grey
07 - The Ancient Art of Being Pushed Away
08 - Part Two: The Effect
09 - Olympiad
10 - The Drama
11 - Twentythree Degrees
"It’s time for the country to bear witness to Heavy Weight Champ" - Beat Magazine – July 06
"What's different is the band's greater understanding of dynamics and, more specifically, their greater understanding of ‘the song'. What's the same is the million dollar voice of Grant McCulloch leading the charge of simple, precisely-executed heavy tunes". - X-press Magazine - July 06
"Heavy Weight Champ's debut was always going to be a stunningly worthy release..." - WAMI – August 06
"Along with the likes of Cog and Karnivool, Heavy Weight Champ are leading a resurgence in Australian hard rock" - Time Off Magazine - July 06
[edit] Grey Filters
In March of 2003 Heavy Weight Champ returned to Watt Studios with friend Jarrad Hearman to record the follow up to their debut release. The initial idea had been to record a few of the post Two Triple Zero tracks with the focus on a new song called "Filters" which would most likely be released as a single or the title track of a short E.P. In the quest to find support for "Filters" Grant proposed using an acoustic track he had written called "Grey". Discussions as to whether it suited the band were long and intense but it was ultimately endorsed, cellist Miriam Braun from Tragic Delicate guested on the track which would go on to equal "Filters" and introduce a massive dynamic to the band's sound signalling a new era for Heavy Weight Champ. The record was launched at The Amplifier Bar on August 30, 2003 with Beside the Point, Headshot and Subtruck supporting, friend and guest DJ Andrew Haug of Triple J spun brutality on the decks all night. Later that year Grey Filters was nominated for best single in the 2003 WAMI awards, it was also voted into the top five Australian releases of the year on Triple J's Full Metal Racket program .
Track Listing
01 - Filters (edit)
02 - Grey (edit)
03 - It Falls Away (live)
04 - The Melancholy Overture (live)
05 - Filters
06 - Grey
“It is nothing short of remarkable that this incredibly accomplished band are unsigned. Self-produced and as fas as I can ascertain independently funded, this is an EP of indisputable quality. Somewhere between Seattle and Tool it is a slamfest of moshquake proportions” – Revolver Street Press, Sydney.
[edit] Two Triple Zero
In January of 2000, Heavy Weight Champ would team up with engineer and good friend Forrester Savell (Karnivool, Full Scale Deflection) to begin work on their debut release Two Triple Zero. The band entered Subiaco’s Pinnacle Studios for three days of tracking and mixing, on the whole the sessions were pretty casual with friends dropping in at all hours providing welcome distraction. Some additional mixing and mastering was completed at Watt (or iFAAT as it was then known) Studios before the band launched the record to a sold out Amplifier Bar in Perth on August the 25, 2000 with Long-Bo Tom, Karnivool, Caddis and Full Scale Deflection in support. Two Triple Zero went on to chart in the AIR top twenty for almost a year.
Track Listing
01 - Two Triple Zero
02 - Down
03 - The Melancholy Overture
04 - Breach
05 - It Falls Away
“Probably the best-produced CD released by a Perth Metal band in recent years, Two Triple Zero is a cranking debut from too-talented power-trio Heavy Weight Champ” – X-press Magazine, Perth.
[edit] Other recordings
Other Heavy Weight Champ recordings include...
Live set 06 - Live set broadcast on Triple J in September 06, tracks performed were Worth Your Weight in Gold, Part Two: The Effect and Olympiad - as yet unreleased
Bipolar - Demoed for the Lo-Fi Funeral sessions, as yet unreleased
Live set 04 - Recorded for the Sic Sessions Volume One album, a collaboration between Heavy Weight Champ, Subtruck and Antistatic. Live tracks released on this album were Filters, Breach and Two Triple Zero
Jeri Ryan - Demoed for the Two Triple Zero sessions and released on the 2000 Next Big Thing compilation
[edit] Videography
Worth your Weight in Gold - Directed by Grant McCulloch
released 2006
This Revolution - Directed by Grant McCulloch
released 2006
Filters live - Directed by Andrew Ewing
released 2004
Down - Directed by Chris Frey
released 2000
