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 final episode of a three part series, we join ANA from Monday, September 21 through to their last show on Saturday, September 26. Each day we will also publish select photos from the final show in California thanks to Paul Miles.
Monday, September 21: Day off we go get some Texas BBQ at Terry Blacks.
Tuesday, September 22: We drive 10hrs from Grand Praire to Las Cruces, New Mexico where we stop and rest for the night.
Wednesday, September 23: We drive 11.5hrs from Las Cruces to Anaheim, California our final tour destination. The total distance we cover on this tour is approximately 5,200km.
Thursday 24 – Friday, 25 September: We have two days off and we go visit the Sunset Strip and stop by The Rainbow, The Roxy and Whiskey a go go. We also go to Santa Monica and get to experience being stuck in LA traffic for 3hrs on the way back to our motel.
Saturday, September 26: We play the final show of the tour at the Honda centre in Anaheim, California home of the Mighty Ducks Hockey team. This is the biggest venue we’ve played in our entire career and the walls backstage are adorned by the who’s who of music and sport that have graced this amazing venue. We meet with Glenn one last time to have some photos taken and have time for a short chat with him. He tells us that we’ve been great and that he doesn’t bring shitty bands out on tour with him. That mark of approval from one of music’s living legends was a landmark moment in all our lives.
I wanna take a minute to put something in record. There are many rumours that float around the internet and I can’t comment on any of them. What I can do is share my personal experience of touring with Glenn Danzig. To us he has been kind, gracious and generous in so many ways. His band have also been a delight to hang around and share our meals with. Each of them are extremely accomplished musicians and it was our great honour to watch them nightly and be able to call them friends.
Josh Mak
