Jun 15 2026, 9.34am / Features
Dear Joey and Brooke, What a wild ride! I just wanted to write to express …
You’ve gotta love Anthony Caruso. The drummer for Aussie favs Hellions jabbers quicker and has more energy than a three-year old after a few shots of cordial—and he has every right to be on a high.
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Hellions thrashed it at Unify Gathering back in January and they recently announced a tour in May, their fourth album Rue the trigger for their accelerated activities in recent months. It’s the album we had been waiting for Hellions to make, and now it’s done and dusted, Caruso can chat happily of how far the band have come.
“It was cool to go back to Unify and to have a similar, if not better, than we had the year before,” says Caruso. “We had a really good time.” The crowd was indeed, insane during Hellions set, something Caruso can’t believe he witnessed. “It’s pretty crazy!”
“At the time, it feels like you’re not really processing it—it doesn’t hit me until we’ve walked off stage and I’m like, ‘wow. What the fuck just happened?!’ And yeah, you start to think about the impact your music can have on people or the fact that people even listen to it is pretty amazing to us.”
Though Hellions were sitting on the songs in Rue before it was released last October, they’re not sick of them—though as he says that, Caruso admits he never anticipated just how hugely popular the album would become. “Not at all,” Caruso says breathlessly.
“You have no idea what to expect. Each record has seen the band progress as musicians, as people, as a collective. You never really know what to expect.
It’s like a blessing and a curse at the same time—because we’re so focused on what’s next, we rarely get the opportunity to sit back and take it all in.
[ Anthony Caruso ]
“I guess other people’s opinions are always taken into consideration in that we hope they like what we’re doing, but it’s never really determined what we’re doing. You never know what to expect—we could release a record next week and it could be the worst one anyone ever heard!”
Hellions’ success is only growing, and though Caruso says they can’t really prepare for that, it definitely means more to be living in the moment. “We were talking about this earlier,” Caruso begins. “It’s like a blessing and a curse at the same time—because we’re so focused on what’s next, we rarely get the opportunity to sit back and take it all in.
“It’s not until we’re playing shows, or if we’re doing a signing or run into a Hellions fan in the street … I don’t know … It’s hard to explain what that’s like. You get caught up in what’s next and forget what’s happening around you.”
Sometimes though, all you need is a moment to be on the outside and looking in to collect your thoughts. “You never really realise you need that moment until you have that moment,” Caruso says profoundly. “‘What’s next? What can we do now? How can we keep growing?’ You don’t realise until you’re face to face with people … It can be easy to get lost in things feeling like they’re not progressing.
“We had some time off from touring last year and although in the background things were happening, prepping for the album release, it just felt like we were sitting on our hands—we started going a little bit crazy!”
Of course, there’s no sitting on their hands for Hellions this year as they head out with mates Dregg and label mates Yours Truly on a massive tour—when you’re often stuck in the if’s, whats and maybes, how do you prep for something like that? “We take into consideration everything we’ve learned,” says Caruso, “and with these shows in particular, we’re finally able to put together the show we’ve always wanted to do.
“We always want more but playing these shows in these venues with these bands is really allowing us to put together the set list we want and do all the production things we want and a few other little tricks. I guess the way for us to prep is to get practicing!
“The difficult thing with tours like this is we’re spoilt for choice, and it gets hard to figure out what we want to do and what we should do.”
For Hellions these days, putting on good production is an important aspect of their shows. “These are things we’ve always loved and always wanted to do,” says Caruso, “and I think they can also aid in getting across the message of the songs. Having a suitable visual element is really important to, I guess, keep people coming back—no one wants to see the same show three years in a row.
“That’s just part of it. So much else is us challenging ourselves musically to be better performers. We just want to be better every time people see us!”
Catch Hellions with special guests Yours Truly & Dregg at the following dates:
ADELAIDE // Friday 3 May // The Gov (All Ages)
PERTH // Saturday 4 May // The Capitol (18+)
BRISBANE // Friday 10 May // The Triffid (All Ages)
MELBOURNE // Saturday 11 May // Max Watts (18+) SOLD OUTSYDNEY // Friday 17 May //Sydney (All Ages)
