If you’re a fan of synth-driven chaos, blistering cinematic soundscapes, and pure, unadulterated auditory violence, then you better strap yourselves in. We are sitting down with the mastermind behind one of the most explosive electronic acts on the planet: the one and only Franck Hueso, better known to the world as Carpenter Brut. Blending the nostalgic retro neon of 1980s slasher flicks with the sheer, crushing meatiness of black metal and industrial rock, this project has carved out a terrifyingly beautiful niche that leaves traditional metalheads and electronic fans alike begging for mercy.
Carpenter Brut has officially confirmed they are heading Down Under for a massive, face-melting Australian tour in 2027. It has been a long time coming for Aussie fans who have been starving for that signature leather-clad, synthwave-meets-heavy-metal assault. We’re talking full-scale production, chest-rattling bass, and the kind of high-octane energy that turns a live venue into an absolute warzone.
HEAVY sent through some questions for Hueso, with the language barrier ensuring an interview was not an option.
HEAVY: You hit Australia early next year for your first headlining tour of this country for four select dates, starting in Brisbane on January 27 before hitting Sydney and Melbourne over consecutive days and finishing at FROTH & FURY FESTIVAL in Adelaide on January 30. I bet you will just be looking forward to getting to a warmer climate if you are home for Christmas.
CB: Haha, yes, escaping the French winter and arriving in the middle of summer is hard to turn down. But above all, it’s my very first time in Australia, so I really want to discover the country and see what life is like over there. And playing in front of a crowd that seems to have crazy energy is obviously what I’m looking forward to most. I hope I won’t want to stay too much though, haha. That’s the problem when you discover a new country, you don’t want to leave.
HEAVY: It is called THE END COMPLETE TOUR which is quite ambiguous but also quite profound. What’s the reason behind the name?
CB: First of all, it’s the end of the Leather story, with Leather Temple closing the trilogy. But it’s also the end of a musical style for me, and the beginning of a different way of doing things. The name sounds a bit dark, but to me it’s rather positive: we finish something properly before starting something else. But it’s also to play on the ambiguous side of it, and a little wink to the haters who say “Carpenter? It’s been over for a long time” hehe.
HEAVY: The press release makes note of the fact you are bringing your full live production for the tour. What does that entail?
CB: Well, we’ll try, but we won’t have the tower, that’s for sure. It costs too much to move. It’s the same problem when we go to the USA. But for the rest, we should still be able to give a show that reproduces well what Europeans can see. And anyway, we agree that it’s the music that counts. I don’t know why that’s written there in the end. But come anyway. Haha.
HEAVY: Your live shows famously reject traditional EDM setups by having a live drummer and guitarist. Why has maintaining that aggressive instrumental dynamic always been a necessary part of your live performance?
CB: Because I didn’t want to be a guy behind a computer, simply put. My music is very physical, very frontal, and it needs real instruments on stage to have the impact it deserves. I played drums when I was a kid, and I’ve always been drawn to the energy of rock and metal. Having flesh and blood musicians brings something that a purely electronic set can’t give, and you feel it immediately in the room.
HEAVY: You are playing headliners on the East Coast but also appearing at Adelaide’s heavy music hub, the Froth & Fury Festival. How do you approach your stage energy differently when playing a dedicated synthwave crowd versus sharing a festival lineup with raw metal bands?
CB: To be honest, I don’t fundamentally change the way I play. My audience is very mixed anyway, with a lot of metalheads, so the show works in both cases. At festivals, though, we often have a shorter set, so we go straight to the point, in a more condensed way. And metalheads are often very open, they judge music on its energy and sincerity, not on its label. I’ve never been booed, people have always stayed polite, haha.
HEAVY: You’re bringing fellow French producer Sierra Veins along for the ride. What makes her dark electronic textures the perfect primer for a Carpenter Brut crowd?
CB: She’s talented and I love what she does. That’s mostly what matters. My audience would be ready to listen to quite a few different styles, so the choice of having her with me on tour is more about her musical quality than the style she plays, in the end. And people should enjoy her energy and her tracks.
HEAVY: Your latest album, Leather Temple, dropped recently as the grand finale to a trilogy that started all the way back with Leather Teeth in 2018. Looking back at the narrative arc of Bret Halford, how does this final chapter push the musical boundaries of the project?
CB: With Leather Temple, I wanted to give more scale and scope, so I included more orchestral and cinematic elements, with more techno or 90s electro tracks, like The Misfits/The Rebels, which I had never done before. It’s also a shorter, more direct album, entirely instrumental. Bret Halford went from disfigured geek to cyborg in a dystopian future, and the music followed that evolution.
HEAVY: Will you continue doing trilogies or conceptually linked albums in the future or will you be more taking it one album at a time moving forward?
CB: Probably no more trilogies, at least not for now. Eight years on the same story is long, and I want more freedom. I think I’ll move toward shorter formats, EPs, even standalone tracks, I compose and it comes out, without overthinking it. But I never say never, if an idea makes me want to go back to a big narrative, I’ll do it.
HEAVY: Musically you draw from electronic music, metal and cult horror cinema. How do you get the balance right in the creative process? How do you know when you have gone too far in one direction or not far enough in another?
CB: It’s often my wife who calms me down, because I tend to go off in all directions when I compose. I don’t really have reference points. I either listen to metal or electro, but the mix of the two in the style I do is pretty rare, so I’m breaking new ground more than I’m drawing inspiration. That’s why it sometimes sounds absolutely terrible. But I don’t pay attention to the balance between electronic and metal, it just comes out, by feeling.
HEAVY: Your visual aesthetic heavily borrows from absolute titans of cinema like John Carpenter and Dario Argento. How do you translate that to your live shows?
CB: Through the lights, the visuals, and the way the show is built like a film, with an intro, a build-up, a climax, and a final track that has to finish like “a punch to the back of the neck”. Colors are very important: blue-purple neons on one side, red-orange tones on the other, so the audience immediately understands which world we’re in. After that, we work with the means we have: the production has its limits, but the idea remains to immerse people in a movie that doesn’t exist. I spend quite a lot of time with my lighting guy working on the shows, imagining things, it’s really something I enjoy. It takes time but it’s important. You can’t just send flashes with spotlights, that’s no longer enough. You also have to tell something with them.
