Photos by Paul Miles
Melbourne’s premier symphonic metal powerhouse ANA have returned home from tearing the United States a brand-new one. In what can only be described as a monumental, career-defining milestone, our homegrown champions landed the coveted support slot for the legendary, unmistakable icon of the dark arts himself: Danzig for a run of dates through September.
This wasn’t just another overseas trip; this was a full-throttle baptism of fire. ANA packed up their grand, sweeping orchestrations and razor-sharp metal riffs and hit the highway across America, bringing their fierce Aussie energy directly to the belly of the beast. To celebrate this absolute masterstroke of a tour, HEAVY has teamed up with the band for an exclusive, access-all-areas backstage pass.
Throughout the entire US run, the band documented every single drop of sweat, backstage chaos, and onstage triumph for a special series of features right here at HEAVY. We are talking raw, unfiltered, and completely honest road diaries straight from the tour van. You’ll get a front-row seat to what it actually takes for an independent Australian band to survive the grueling US touring circuit alongside metal royalty. The amps are cranked, the passports are stamped, and the dark lord awaits. Keep your eyes locked on HEAVY over the coming days as ANA conquer the States one block at a time.
In todays first of a three part series, we join ANA from Wednesday, September 9 through to Monday, September 14. Each day we will also publish select photos from the final show in California thanks to Paul Miles.
Wednesday, September 9: Anna Khristenko, Mark Shi and Josh Mak arrive in Austin, Texas. We pick up our van and drive an hour to our accommodation in San Antonio. Cody Lamb is still in Australia and Jade is still in Japan. Both are waiting for their visas and passports before they can fly to meet the band.
Thursday, September 10: Visa approval and passports come through and the remaining members begin the long flight. They will miss the first show but will make it just in time for the second show in Houston, Texas.
Friday, September 11: Anna, Mark and Josh perform for the first time without the full band. It’s a hard show both logistically but also emotionally as this is the biggest venue (Boeing Centre, San Antonio, Texas) we have ever played and we are having to do it without our band. We give it our all and put on the best show we possibly can and the crowd was amazing and so supportive.
It’s a totally alien world for us coming from playing the clubs to being in an arena of this size. Backstage is a maze of dressing rooms and production offices. We are treated incredibly well and looked after by the promoters and venue staff. All meals are catered and the food is unbelievable. Were fish out of water but there is no time to process, we must quickly adapt and rise to the standard that’s expected of us.
Saturday, September 12: We wake up at 6am after only a couple hours of sleep as we got back to the motel around midnight after the show and all of us were still adjusting to the time difference. We drive 4hrs to get to Houston, Texas to pick Jade up from the airport then we head straight to the venue (Bayou Music Centre).
Cody lands at 3:30pm and Ubers straight to the venue. He arrives at 5pm and quickly changes into stage attire as our set begins at 6pm. None of us had rehearsed together as the visa delays had thrown our whole schedule out the window. So with only a quick line check, no rehearsal and almost no sleep in 2 days we took to the stage and played what I think was one of the best shows of the tour.
Sunday, September 13: It’s an off day for us and it’s also our Merchandise manager, Aaron Mak’s birthday. We spend the day at a gun range and for dinner we have some of the best tacos I’ve ever eaten.
Monday, September 14: We leave at 6am drive 5.5hrs to reach our next destination, New Orleans, Louisiana. We head straight to the venue, the iconic Filmore. This venue is absolutely beautiful and so many of our musical heroes adorn the walls of the backstage area. We’re much better prepared for this show and everyone is a little more rested. The show is amazing and we get to come out to meet fans, take photos and sign stuff at the merch table.
This is the first time that we actually have time to go meet Glenn in his dressing room. He was so kind to us and took time to sign a few items and even gave us several of his comic books. We also presented him with a thank you gift that contained our comics.
