BIGSOUND Artist Profile: Chaos Divine

Member/Role: Ryan Felton (guitarist)

Hometown: Perth

Short description of your band and your music: We're a five-piece heavy progressive rock band drawing influences from Devin Townsend, Mastodon, Porcupine Tree and Opeth.

Has the party side of the music industry been all you were hoping for so far in your career? When you're in a metal band, it's not all that glamorous! Sharing a tiny hotel room with four other smelly dudes on tour isn't exactly a party ;)

What is the best thing that's happened to you/your band so far? Soundwave 2014 — an amazing experience to play to a huge crowd and hang out backstage with Korn, Phil from Pantera and Mastodon among many others.

Are your ambitions mainly artistic or commercial? Artistic mainly, but we're really hoping our new album, Colliding Skies, can make a splash in Europe and we can fund ourselves to get over there to play some shows to new audiences.

Is your music best rendered in the studio or the live realm? We've always been pretty confident that our albums can translate well in a live setting, so we'd like to think that our music can be appreciated the same either way.

If you could have any act past or present join you on your next tour who would you tap? Devin Townsend — he would be the funniest fucker ever to tour with.

What industry lessons would you like to take away from the BIGSOUND conference? Pay attention to, support and nurture the local music scene, because without it new bands don't have a platform to get noticed.

What acts are you looking forward to checking out at the BIGSOUND showcase? We've been hearing great things from Guards Of May, so we're stoked to be playing with them at our showcase on Thursday night at The New Globe.

Why should people come and see you from amongst the many cool bands at BIGSOUND? Being a heavy band from Perth, we hope our sound is a little different to others on the line-up. For those that like it heavy, big and catchy — come check us out!