There are few greater joys in this whirlwind hellride of underground music than catching up with someone who’s been in the trenches with you since the early days. So when I jumped on Zoom with my mate Brenden Bishop, axe-slinger for Adelaide’s metalcore hammer squad Those Left Behind, it wasn’t just an interview — it was a long-overdue hangout, equal parts nostalgic, nerdy, and chaotic in the best way.
This chat wasn’t a 10-minute label-approved press junket. Nah. We went deep — over an hour deep — into the world of guitars, gigging, and growing up immersed in the sweaty glow of local stages and busted PAs. Brenden’s one of those rare types in heavy music: humble, funny, and honest as hell. We talked guitars, gear, and the weird journey from hearing Bon Jovi as a kid to hammering riffs in one of SA’s heaviest bands. Yes — the gateway drug was Slippery When Wet. And I respected the hell out of that. Because real talk? Same.
We’ve shared stages, drinks, and war stories since the very first Storm the Crown shows — when both our bands were still figuring it out and running on pure guts and distorted dreams. Every time I see Those Left Behind, they’ve leveled up. Tighter. Meaner. And Brenden’s right there in the center of it all, wrenching chaos from strings and throwing down with a grin.
We didn’t dig too far into scene politics or label dreams. This was about the love of the craft. About guitars, brotherhood, and memories from sticky-floored band rooms and hometown gigs that meant the world to us. As Brenden put it — we’ve grown up alongside some incredible local acts, and those shows stitched together the community we live for.
So yeah, it’s not a flashy headline or some PR-ridden puff piece — it’s just two lifers in the heavy music world catching up, talking shop, and remembering why the hell we ever picked up instruments in the first place.
The full chat is up now on KillerTube. Plug in and enjoy the ride.
Reporting live from the inside of a nervous breakdown.
This is gospel.
I bite crowd surfers.
killer.
