The hot and heavy crew - wrapped!

It's been a big year for hot & heavy! You've probably seen our faces pop up with blog posts, social media content and attendance at gigs. I (Zara) thought it might be fun to give you all a glimpse into the crew behind the name. So, in the end of year spirit.... welcome to the hot & heavy crew wrapped.

HAYES

You'll know this face as the founder of hot and heavy. Her top song for 2025 was Mudrat's YOU DON’T CARE ABOUT POOR PEOPLE. Hayes has been focusing on being for the bands, by the fans. She's passionate about transparency and development in the music industry, especially in the aussie scene. It has been a privilege to work on hot & heavy and befriend this fabulous human! What an incredible thing she's achieved already through this platform!

Kirsty

If you know Kirsty then you'll know that it was no surprise that her top artist this year was Bad Omens. Kirsty is a journalist here at hot & heavy... and at one point this year I feared her hands may fall off her body because of how many (absolutely fire) articles she was writing! If you haven't checked out her blogs, get on it, she's fantastic! Hopefully she makes a Sydney trip in 2026 because we need more of her!

Zara

My Spotify wrapped made it very evident that I went to a certain concert earlier this year and thoroughly enjoyed it (I have no shame in this either). That concert made me go "Man, I wish I could write about music" and then a few days later Hayes popped up on my tiktok talking about journalism for this site called hot & heavy. I was immediately hooked! My favourite concerts this year were Make them suffer, fir and knotfest!

Stephen

Who's that guy reminding you to drink your coffee and listen to some pop punk? It's one of our fabulous content creators - Stephen! Stephen's top artist this year was hot mulligan and his favourite moment this year was "Getting to work with all of you" - bless. Stephen is the calm in the chaos and is just a pure delight of a person. His music taste adds so much variety as well!

Ethan

Ethan's face will be pretty familiar to you if you follow the hot & heavy tiktok or instagram accounts. Ethan is a content creator who loves a good spin kick in a mosh pit. When asked for his favourite memory Ethan said "Honestly absolutely everything that has happed to me this year with H&H, but if I had to choose 1 then it would be interviewing my idol Zelli from paleface then hanging out with them in Sydney". Not sure how Ethan can top that in 2026, but we hope he can!

Emily

Em is one of our journalists and she's grown so much this year. From nervous first interviews, to confidently speaking to bands, Em has really shown why she's such a great member of the team. When asked about her top 2025 memory she said "my favourite memory this year while working with Hot & Heavy is a hard choice. But I’d have to say working at my first festival as media at Thrashville and becoming friends with H&H crew from all over Australia. Picture taken by my Tassie pookie Eva".

Keely

Keely is a journo and is such a sweet soul. She's been smashing the blogs in 2025! Her favourite moment from this year was "every time I’ve gotten to work with another member of H&H! Getting to know everyone and working together to create such cool and interesting shit, even if it goes a bit awry sometimes, and getting to laugh about it and still make something worthwhile out of it". Keely's top genre was K-pop, proving that the h&h team is a real mix of fan bases!

ROB

Have you ever been scrolling social media and suddenly heard "GIG REVIEW!!!" screamed at you? Well, that's Rob. His favourite moment from 2025 was jumping on stage with SImple Plan. Rob is one of H&H's content creators. He'll be popping up on your screen with gig reviews, gig advice and other awesome content. Also, he does a great guttural growl! Proof that you can't judge a book by it's cover with his sweet disposition, but gnarly vocals!

Jenson

As well as being a member of h&h, Jenson is also in a band and rocks around the country. Jenson is the drummer for Maxwell Jxhn. He brings a great sense of humour to the team and always has something fun to say in the crew chat. I'm a big fan of Jenson's top artists as well. Great banter, great musical ability and great taste - a great addition to the team!

Tilly

Tilly is a sound engineer on the team. Her favourite moment from this year was "recording my first interview with Clint from Damage Inc". She also has fabulous taste in music (which I suppose you'd like to see from a sound engineer!). Tilly is clearly a big supporter of the aussie music scene, which we love here at h&h!

EVA

You might've seen Eva's face pop up more frequently at the end of this year. Eva has started doing more content creation and we are loving it! "I’m Eva (he/him) and I’m a photographer/content creator with hot and heavy. My hot and heavy highlights has to be shooting at Thrashville. It was actually the first music festival I’ve ever been to as well! So to be able to say I was a photographer at my first festival is pretty wicked - thanks Hot and Heavy xx"

Amber

Amber is one of our behind-the-scenes members here at h&h. She's taken on the role of communications manager (admin) and has been a huge help to all of us on the team! Her favourite moment of 2025 has been "each time I've been able to help someone in our team get a good experience. Between securing interviews, to getting passes for shows people want to work at. Its hard to pick a favourite but getting our first ever melbourne festival passes for converge was a big one!" We appreciate you Amber!

Diaval

Diaval lestat of Bad Karma Photos. The name alone just sounds amazing. Diaval is a Melbourne-based photographer. Their 2025 Favourite part of the year with h&h was "the Melbourne crew day at converge festival, got some rad shots and was so fun to spend the day with the crew and mosh to some amazing local talent". We can't wait to see the shots you get in 2026!

Kaylah

This is bunny-loving journo Kaylah! Kaylah has been writing amazing articles for the blog this year. Her favourite moment from this year was "Hayes telling me I got a media pass for Dark Mofo, which nearly brought me to tears. I'm so grateful for the opportunities H&H has given me and excited for 2026!!". Very well deserved! What a great opportunity for a really deserving journo.

Tia

Tia is one of our journalists and is an absolute sweet heart. She's based in Melbourne, so you might see her face pop up at Melbourne gigs in 2026. She said her favourite moment from this year was "getting to interview my pookie Kevin Silvester as well as going to heaps of amazing local gigs in Melbourne and making new friends xoxo". Tia is an absolute sweet heart - just look at that mug shot!

Jake

We've got a double threat here as Jake is a photographer and content creator for h&h. Jake's favourite moment from 2025 with the crew was "getting to interview OM&M (of mice and men) !!!" Not sure anything can top that, but hopefully we see more of Jake and these awesome interviews in 2026!

Sarah

If you want amazing photos of your gig, then this is the girl to call! Sarah is a phenomenal photographer and I've had the pleasure of watching her confidence build this year. Sarah is a hilarious person and brings so much to the team. Her favourite moment this year was "probably pegging*** the entire crew at fresh blood with no suspicion at all".

*** clothes pegs were used in said pegging

Raff

My favourite comment from Raff about his 2025 wrapped was "Raff. Audio production. Yes I am old". Raff clearly has some great taste in music, which is probably why he's part of such an awesome team!

Josh

I'm sure that Hayes would like me to say that we've saved the best for last. Josh is the other half of founding member Hayes and they're bloody cute together! If you couldn't tell he's a Polaris fan, so great taste in music and a big fan of the aussie scene.

Aaaaaannnndd that's a wrap for 2025!

While we have an awesome crew here, we couldn't do any of this without the bands and the fans. Thankyou for reading our blogs, watching our videos and interacting with us! Thanks for clicking those buttons and giving our work exposure. We appreciate it, from the bottom of our hearts!

Looking forward to an amazing 2026!