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 second episode of a three part series, we join ANA from Tuesday, September 15 through to Sunday, September 20. Each day we will also publish select photos from the final show in California thanks to Paul Miles.
Tuesday 15 -Wednesday 17 September: We leave New Orleans and begin an 8hr drive to Nashville, Tennessee. We finally get a couple of days off to rest and spend it looking for Southern comfort food and visiting Nashville’s legendary Broadway. This is truly music city, soon as the sun sets the streets are bathed in neon glows from signboards and live music pours out from every bar. Some of us even have a go on a mechanical bull.
Friday, September 18: We play at the Pinnacle in Nashville, Tennessee. This venue had the most impressive backstage area. The dressing rooms were luxurious and gorgeous, catering was amazing and there were arcade machines, table tennis and a free Photo Booth to keep us entertained while waiting (There is a lot of sitting around and waiting on tour). A few band members were pretty sick with the flu and a sore throat at this stage including Anna. She wasn’t anywhere near a hundred percent but she still pulled off an incredible performance and the roar from the crowd in music city made us feel very proud that night.
Saturday, September 19: We drive 10.5hrs from Nashville to Grand Praire, Texas. Almost the entire band is sick now except for Jade and Josh. All the motel tables are full of every type of flu medication that the pharmacy sells. Some members get a little better while others remain sick. All throughout this tour an intense heat wave covers every city we go to. Day time temperatures exceed 40degrees Celsius which makes the travel extra taxing on us.
Sunday, September 20: We play the Texas Trust CU Theatre in Grand Praire, Texas. It is also Tommy Victor’s (Danzig guitarist) birthday tonight. Glenn and all the other bands bring a cake back stage after the show and all the bands sing happy birthday to Tommy. Amidst all of this Glenn Danzig turns to me and says: “Hey man you want some cake?” This counts as one of the most surreal moments of my life. A few minutes later I get another surreal moment as we’re having cake and chatting with Steve Zing (Danzig Bassist) and he tells me that Jay Weinberg was at the Nashville show, saw our set and said we were good.
This little backstage soirée was also attended by Karl Rosqvist (Danzig drummer), Twin Temple, Burning Witches and Johnny Kelly (Quiet Riot) turned up as he lived in Dallas down the road. I hate name dropping but this was exactly who was in attendance. A genuine pinch me moment.
