A Dirty Dozen with NICK MORIARTY from NICOLAS CAGE FIGHTER – September 2025

Edited by Jessy Holtfreter

According to a recent press release: ““The Executioner” is the latest video/single from Australia’s NICOLAS CAGE FIGHTER. The scathing new hymn comes by way of the band’s I Watched You Burn full-length set for release on September 12th via Bleeding Art Collective and Blood Blast Distribution (Nuclear Blast Records/Believe). NICOLAS CAGE FIGHTER is a four-piece metal-driven hardcore act from Ballarat, Victoria. The band’s critically acclaimed 2022-released debut full-length, The Bones That Grew From Pain, led to features in key music media outlets including Decibel Magazine and a front-page feature in HEAVY Mag while also featuring on a number of renowned Spotify Playlists. This year’s follow-up, I Watched You Burn, continues the trajectory. In early 2025, it was revealed in The Guardian that the actor Nicolas Cage himself is a fan of the band, not only commenting that he thinks the band is terrific, but also quoting some of the band’s lyrics in an interview. With vicious go-for-the-throat sound and an incendiary live performance, NICOLAS CAGE FIGHTER have truly earned the reputation of their namesake.” We get singer Nick to discuss new music, influences, and more…

1. Tell us a little about your latest release.  What might a fan or listener not grab the first or second time they listen through?  Are there any hidden nuggets you put in the material or that only diehard fans might find?

Thematically this album is a pretty big shift from what we’ve created with our previous releases, where the music we’ve written in the past has been centred in commentary of the world around us and internal struggles with the sense of self, this new album is much more fantastical, telling a tale of an immortal serial killer on a dying planet who has come to terms with being the one responsible for the eradication of all life as we know it. There are a lot of homages and references to songs we’ve written in the past though, and while some are more obvious than others, there are some lyrics which serve both the songs they’re from as well as the greater context of how this album is related conceptually to our previous releases, and I’ll be very interested to see how quickly people pick up on this.

2. What got you into music, and can you tell us about the moment you realized you wanted to be a musician?

I grew up absolutely loving the soundtracks to all the classic PS2 games like Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, Need For Speed, Burnout, Midnight Club, MX vs ATV unleashed etc, and once I got into high school my taste expanded from there. What really made me want to make my own music though was seeing The Devil Wears Prada live when I was 16, they were the second band I had ever seen live and the first heavy band which I found on my own, and watching Mike Hranica on stage immediately made me want to learn vocals, join a band and play shows. That gig will always be special to me. One of these days, when I can justify the money, I plan on getting the album artwork for With Roots Above and Branches Below tattooed on my arm.

3. Building on that, is there a specific song, album, performer, or live show that guided your musical taste?

I don’t think there’s any one specific song or band that I could say is completely responsible for my taste in music, but there’s definitely two big standouts as far as vocalists that inspired me to improve my vocals as much as possible, Nate Johnson who and John Huber. The first times I heard I “Declare Goddess” (which John did as a collaboration with Disfiguring the Goddess) and “The Conqueror” (from Fit For An Autopsy’s first album where Nate Johnson was on vocals) I was blown away by how powerful and disgusting their voices were, and as it’s stood for over 10 years, I think that they’ll both always be the benchmark I have set that I aim to exceed.

4. If you could call in any one collaborator to do a song with, who would it be, and why?

We’ve always thought that it would be so fucking cool if we could get Corpsegrinder on to do a guest spot on one of our tracks. I’d love to get Phil Bozeman on board as well, but I think the reasoning behind both is pretty much the same, they’re both quintessential top-tier vocalists who are instantly recognisable, and all of us listen and love to their music.

5. What is your favorite activity when out of the studio and/or not on tour?  What do you like to do to unwind?

I play way too fucking many video games. I’ll lie to myself and say that I try and stay creative and write music in different genres as much as possible to keep my brain ticking over and accomplishing something new and rewarding, but working in retail sales where every day depletes your social and emotional battery to an exhausting degree, coming home to click some heads and grind mmr is way too relaxing for me. I’ll be a Dota 2 fanboy my entire life, 100%.

6. How would you describe your music to someone who’d never listened to you before? What is the one comparison a reviewer or fan has made that made you cringe or you disagreed with?

We’re a mixture of modern hardcore and death metal, but I don’t think we’re very similar to other bands who do the same. We love to blend and draw influences from a wide range of different heavy music, but in a way that’s unique to us. We get called deathcore and metallic hardcore a lot, but I don’t think that those labels really fit what we do. When you compare us to other bands that really are deathcore and metallic hardcore, in my opinion we don’t really sound much like them at all, so I guess being called deathcore makes me cringe a little bit.

7. When your band is hanging out together, who cooks, who gets the drinks in, and who is first to crack out the acoustic guitars for a singalong?

Nowadays we’re a lot more responsible when it comes to touring, and outside of gigs and practising we’re just regular dudes who bump into each other when we’re going about our own lives. On tour we don’t really cook that much honestly, but we absolutely love having a BBQ whenever we’re staying at a caravan park, mostly because it’s cheaper than going to a pub for the 18th time. I’m probably the easiest to convince to get wasted, but overall we’re pretty calm nowadays because we’re too sick of trying to look tough on stage while nursing a hangover. You’ll also NEVER have to deal with a crappy rendition of “Wonderwall” when we’re together, thank fuck.

8. When was the last time you were starstruck and who was it?

I got to meet Darius Tehrani from Spite a few years ago when their tour with Thy Art Is Murder, Whitechapel and Chelsea Grin came through to Melbourne, and I definitely had a little fangirl moment where I chewed the poor guy’s ear off for a little too long. Their performance was absolutely phenomenal and I couldn’t help myself.

9. What is the best part of being a musician? If you could no longer be a musician for whatever reason, what would be your dream job?

When people tell me that the music I’ve written resonates with them, helps them get through a dark time in their life, or they just fuck with what we do and they enjoy a show, I think that’s the best feeling in the world. Music has always been an escape for me and a way to let out a lot of anger and emotion, and I love anything that makes me want to move around. Knowing that I get to do the same for other people will always be hugely important to me. I’m really trying to learn music production and mixing and mastering. If my knees ever give up and I get too old to keep jumping around on stage, I can definitely see myself helping other people make their own music.

10. What is one question you have always wanted an interviewer to ask – and what is the answer? Conversely, what question are you tired of answering?

“What’s your favorite pit manoeuvre?” I’m a sucker for a killer mosh combo, I know that karate in the pit is a controversial topic among some crowds (anyone who dislikes it is wrong) –  my take is that it’s just aggressive dancing. A super clean two step leading into some spin kicks and overhand throws in perfect sync with a song is some of the hardest shit to see at a show. The only shitty question to answer I think are the “dream gig” or “favorite bands” questions, I reckon I’ve got a new flavour of the month listen every week and whenever someone asks me this it always puts me on the spot, I have a total mental blank, I always look back on my answers thinking “how the fuck did I forget XYZ????”

11. Looking back over your career, is there a single moment or situation you feel was a misstep or you would like to have a “do over,” even if it didn’t change your current situation?

I wish I practised a lot more consistently in the first handful of years that I joined this band. I’ve always been a bedroom vocalist who would cover songs I loved and upload them to social media, but because NCF is my first band I never really appreciated how much of a marathon it can be running through an entire live set of songs without much room to breathe, while still remaining active and energetic on stage. There’s a lot of shows I look back on where I’m really disappointed with my performance both from a technical / vocal point of view, and from a theatrical aspect.

12. If you could magically go back in time and be a part of the recording sessions for any one record in history, which would you choose – and what does that record mean to you?

I’d love to have been a fly on the wall watching Pendulum record their album Immersion. I’ve always loved electronic music as much as I do hardcore and metal, and this is one of my all-time favorite albums. I can only imagine the energy in the air when this was being produced, plus I’m a tremendous simp for Rob Swire, it would be a dream come true to watch his creative process unfold.

NICOLAS CAGE FIGHTER LINKS:

OFFICIAL SITE

FACEBOOK

X – TWITTER

INSTAGRAM

Category: Interviews