Orlando, Florida juggernauts HEAVY//HITTER — Austin Hayes [vocals], Dane Loeprich [guitar], Chris Perez [bass], and Josh Archeval [drums] —dropped their new EP, Moments of Misery, November 8, via Blue Grape Music. Get it here.
The band has also shared the video for "Heaven's Gate." Watch it below.
The high impact, black and white performance video, courtesy of Lawnchair Youth, will leave you wanting to to fight your way to the front of the pit at the next Heavy // Hitter show in your town.
"This song is about living your life the way you think is right because you're trying to get to your own personal gateway of heaven," says Hayes. "So, you're going to do anything you can to reach that point and feel like you're worthy of this prize at the end. Everybody wants a slice of heaven."
HEAVY//HITTER will be touring throughout the fall, with headline dates and a trek in support of Carnifex and Cryptopsy on deck. All confirmed dates are below.
HEAVY//HITTER are, have always been, and always will be... unabashedly and undeniably real.
Since 2019, the band have buzzed as an underground upstart. They bulldozed a path with the Street Violence EP in 2021. They picked up plugs from Lambgoat, Lawnchair Youth, and more. Between packing houses live, they caught the attention of Blue Grape Music and signed to the label.
Unwavering drive, hustle, and a committed grind brought them to this point.
"Before I started this band, I quit music for five years," says Austin. "I tried to go to college. I was a general manager at Domino's Pizza. I did construction. Nothing was fulfilling, so I got back into music and started HEAVY//HITTER with Dane. I just never gave up on this band. We always want more, and we’re not going to stop."
The band decamped to Los Angeles where they recorded Moments of Misery with producer Austin Coupe. Inspired by the likes of Suicide Silence, Knocked Loose, and Carnifex, they refined an "OG deathcore sound with newer hardcore and metalcore elements," according to the fontman.
Ultimately, HEAVY//HITTER hold nothing back.
"When you listen to us, I hope you feel the emotion we put into the record. That's what music is about. We're not a machine. We're human and honest," Hayes shares.
What more could you want from a band?
HEAVY//HITTER ON TOUR:
HEADLINE DATES:
11/8 — Augusta, GA — Grantski Records
11/14 — Orlando, FL — Will's Pub (Hometown Release Show)
ABOUT BLUE GRAPE MUSIC:
In 2022, industry veterans David Rath and Cees Wessels formed Blue Grape Music. The name will be familiar to rock music fans, as it was the merchandise company also launched by Wessels, who founded the venerable and esteemed record label Roadrunner Records in the '80s. Roadrunner earned a reputation as an iconic label that turned hard rock and metal acts into household names for several decades under Wessels' tutelage. Rath spent 21 years in the A&R department at Roadrunner, working on albums by a variety of RIAA-certified and culturally important acts, including but not limited to Slipknot, Korn, Turnstile, Gojira, Coheed and Cambria, White Reaper, Slash, Trivium, Dream Theater, and more. When the label changed management and ownership, Rath guided the company and oversaw the signings of bands like Young the Giant and Vance Joy. Ultimately, the Blue Grape executive team is powered by experience and a roll-up-your-sleeves-and-get-your-hands-dirty, by-any-means-necessary work ethic. Blue Grape's inaugural signing was the two-time Grammy nominee Code Orange and since then, the label has gone on to sign San Francisco punks Spiritual Cramp, hardcore heavyweights GEL, and Baltimore sludge slingers GASKET, with several new signing announcements expected to be announced this year. Blue Grape is distributed globally by The Orchard.