Heavy Weight Champ

"HWC" redirects here. For the mathcore band, see Head Wound City.
Heavy Weight Champ

Left to right: Luke Copeland, Dean Miller, Grant McCulloch
Background information
Origin Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Genres Hard rock
Years active 1999 (1999)–2008 (2008)
Labels
Associated acts
  • Cringer
  • Notbigwotbox
  • Strange Neighbours
  • Meld
Past members
  • Brad Alexander
  • Dean Miller
  • Grant McCulloch
  • Luke Copeland

Heavy Weight Champ, sometimes seen as HWC, were an Australian heavy rock band from Perth. Formed in 1999, the band's early sounds were influenced by Tool, Deftones and Pearl Jam. Founders Dean Miller on drums and Grant McCulloch on vocals and guitar were soon joined by Luke Copeland on bass guitar. The group released two extended plays, Two Triple Zero (August 2000) and Grey Filters (August 2002) and one studio album, Lo-Fi Funeral (8 May 2006). In 2008 they disbanded.

History

Heavy Weight Champ's founding members, Brad Alexander (guitar/vocals), Dean Miller (drums) and Grant McCulloch (vocals/guitar), had played in several rock acts in country Victoria including Cringer, Notbigwotbox and Strange Neighbours in the early 1990s. Later that decade they were in the alternative rock band Meld and moved to Melbourne. Following a visit to Perth, they relocated there due to the lifestyle and burgeoning musical scene. Ads were taken out for a bass guitarist and Luke Copeland was successful. In mid-1999 Alexander quit and returned to Victoria leaving HWC without a main guitarist; after auditioning numerous local players, McCulloch took on lead guitar.

In late 1999, in its second Perth show, Heavy Weight Champ took out the Grosvenor Hotel's "Twenty Minutes of Fame" competition. Over the next months the band won several similar titles before representing Western Australia at the National Campus Band Competition finals in Sydney. The band finished third. With the studio time won from the competition, Heavy Weight Champ recorded their first extended play, Two Triple Zero, at Perth's Pinnacle Studios with producer Forrester Savell. The five-track EP was released in August 2000 and appeared on the Australian Independent Record Companies Association charts Top 20 for almost a year.

After a national tour in 2001 with Karnivool in support, Heavy Weight Champ returned to song writing in 2002: maturing their heavy sound. The band went into Watt Studios, with Jarrad Hearman, trialling new tracks to issue a six-track EP, Grey Filters, in August that year; which was nominated at the WAMi Awards for 2003.[1][2] According to Jasper Lee of Oz Music Project, "Unrelenting rock riffs are what you get, and sure the passion is there, but it's been ground that has been well trodden in the past."[3] The release showed a new fragility in the band's sound with the track "Grey", which Lee felt "provides a melancholic acoustic therapy."[3] It included radio edits of the singles and two live tracks.[3] HWC capitalised on Grey Filters positive reception with tours alongside The Butterfly Effect, The Mark of Cain and Grinspoon.

In April 2004 McCullock described his five favourite Australian artists: Gyroscope "These guys have been kicking ass for years, we first played a show with them at the Grosvenor front room (R.I.P) about three years back and even then there was something going on there. Amazing live"; the Butterfly Effect "Terrific guys when they're not smashing up back stage areas at West Australian rock festivals. Can play a bit too"; Cog "A band that really has yet to make their mark on the Australian scene but it's only a matter of time. Perhaps one of the most gifted groups doing the rounds at the moment. Watch this space"; Full Scale "Our old stomping buddies from the Perth scene round 2000-2001. These guys have played some of the most powerful shows I have ever seen bar none. Full Scale are on the verge of big things"; and Karnivool "Awesome song writers and without a doubt the band closest to Heavy Weight Champ. Another band that is sitting on a winning hand and when the time is right they will no doubt cash in and take the house to the cleaners."[4]

In late 2005 Heavy Weight Champ entered Perth's Loop Studios with Hearman as producer to begin work on their debut studio album, Lo-Fi Funeral. Material was 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 released to radio in April; the album followed on 8 May 2006.[5] During that year HWC returned to live gigs. Lo-Fi Funeral enjoyed critical and market acclaim and the group undertook national tours. Heavy Weight Champ played its final performance on 14 December 2007 in Perth and disbanded early in the following year. Singer-songwriter-guitarist, Grant McCulloch formed, The Siren Tower.

Discography

Extended plays

Two Triple Zero

  • Released: August 2000[6]
  • Format: CD
  • Label: sic squared (Australia)/Phantom Music (sic002)
  • Producer: Forrester Savel
  • Tracks: "Two Triple Zero", "Down", "The Melancholy Overture", "Breach", "It Falls Away"

Grey Filters

  • Released: August 2002
  • Format: CD
  • Label: sic squared (Australia)/MGM Distribution (sic010)
  • Producer: Jarrad Hearman
  • Tracks: "Filters (single edit)", "Grey (single edit)", "It Falls Away (live)", "The Melancholy Overture (live)", "Filters", "Grey"

Albums

Lo-Fi Funeral

  • Released: 8 May 2006
  • Format: CD
  • Label: sic squared (Australia)/MGM Distribution (SIC017)[7]
  • Producer: Jarrad Hearman
  • Singles: "This Revolution"

Other recordings

Videography

External links

References

  1. ↑ "ARIA Charts – New Australasian Releases 2002". ARIA. September 2002. Archived from the original on 10 February 2011. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  2. ↑ "Kiss MY WAMi 2003 Award Nominees". WAMi. 2003. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 Lee, Jasper (September 2002). "Heavy Weight Champ – Grey Filters". Oz Music Project. Archived from the original on 9 August 2004. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  4. ↑ "Heavy Weight Champ talk the single 'Grey Filters'". Australian Music Online. 1 April 2004. Archived from the original on 2 January 2007. Retrieved 5 May 2016.
  5. ↑ "ARIA Charts - New Australasian Releases 2006". ARIA. May 2006. Archived from the original on 10 February 2011. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  6. ↑ Heavy Weight Champ (2000), Two Triple Zero, Phantom Music, retrieved 5 May 2016 – via National Library of Australia
  7. ↑ Heavy Weight Champ (2006), Lo-fi funeral, Sic Squared Records, retrieved 5 May 2016 – via National Library of Australia
  8. ↑ Heavy Weight Champ; Subtruck; Headshot; Sic² Records (2003), The Sic sessions: Volume 1, Sic² Records, retrieved 5 May 2016 – via National Library of Australia
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