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, was an Australian heavy rock band from Perth formed in 1999. The band's early sounds were influenced by Tool, Deftones and Pearl Jam. The founders were drummer Dean Miller and vocalist/guitarist Grant McCullough, and 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), before disbanding in 2008.

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 Victoria including Cringer, Notbigwotbox and Strange Neighbors 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 due to the lifestyle and burgeoning musical scene. After ads were taken out for a bass guitarist, Luke Copeland joined the band. In mid-1999 Alexander quit and returned to Victoria, leaving HWC without a main guitarist; after auditioning numerous local players, McCullough 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 few months the band won several similar titles before representing Western Australia at the National Campus Band Competition finals in Sydney. The band placed third in the competition, winning studio time. Heavy Weight Champ recorded their first extended play, Two Triple Zero, at Perth's Pinnacle Studios with producer Forester 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 songwriting in 2002, maturing their heavy sound. The band went to Watt Studios with Jarrad Hearman, trialling new tracks to issue a six-track EP. Grey Filters was released in August that year, and HWC was nominated at the WAMi Awards in 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, touring alongside The Butterfly Effect, The Mark of Cain and Grinspoon.

In April 2004 McCullough described his five favorite Australian artists: Gyroscope, Cog, Full Scale, and Karnivool.[4]

Lo-Fi Funeral and disbanding

Heavy Weight Champ began working on their debut studio album in late 2005 at Perth Loop Studio with Hearman as their producer, the album was called 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. Their lead single "This Revolution" was released to radio in April, followed by the album release on 8 May 2006.[5] HWC returned to live shows that year; 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 McCullough 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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