TWENTY BIG ONES with 100% ROCK MAGAZINE – MARK DE VATTIMO, PSYCHONAUT

Shane | 2 October 2025 | Reply

TWENTY BIG ONES with 100% ROCK MAGAZINE – MARK DE VATTIMO, PSYCHONAUT

Metal legends Psychonaut bring their “power-speed-death-rock-metal… with lyrical content based on classic horror and sci-fi films and heavy metal culture references” to ELECTRIC EYE FESTIVAL Saturday 4th October, 2025 at Freo Social. For Mark De Vattimo, Heavy Metal is a lifelong passion and he’s popped up in multiple bands over the years – in fact he’s also shredding for doom-delivering King Zog at Electric Eye Fest, and was an early member of Voyager – but Psychonaut has always been his #1.

1. How long have the band been together, what’s the lineup and how would you describe what you do?

PSYCHONAUT has been in existence since late 1996. Or was that 1997?? I forget as time melts away. We’ve had a lot of lineup changes and I’m appreciative of those who have been and gone!

Our lineup is Simon Hallett (bass/voc), Sebastian Giorgi (drums), myself (guitar/voc). We play power-speed-death-rock-metal. The band’s music is rooted in 80’s Heavy Metal with lyrical content based on classic horror and sci-fi films and heavy metal culture references.

2. Tell us a little about your latest release. Are there any hidden nuggets the band put in the material that only diehard fans might pick up on?

Haha, our latest release was ‘way back when’. (We’ve been recording the next album since 2023).

The ‘SHOCK EM DEAD!’ album contains a track called ‘Thrash Metal Zombies’. The song is written about the front cover of SLAYER’s ‘Live Undead’ album. The ‘Slayer’ zombies bursting out of their graves, make their way to a certain pop music concert and destroy all in attendance.

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

Not sure. It seems so long ago. Childhood moments like seeing Adam Ant on TV, or a bloodied figure of Gene Simmons on a poster in my older sister’s bedroom, set off my ‘addiction’.

4. What is it about music that makes you feel passionate?

Music has always been the diary of my life — it’s stuck with me through the sane times and the insane ones. It never leaves.

5. Who would be your main five musical influences?

Tony Iommi, Ed Van Halen, Frank Zappa, Billy Gibbons, Chris Holmes

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

Iommi. We have a song called ‘Iommi World’ on the next album. It would be great to get him on it for a 3 minute outro solo!

7. 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?

As mentioned earlier: We play power-speed-death-rock-metal. The band’s music is rooted in 80’s Heavy Metal with lyrical content based on classic horror and sci-fi films and heavy metal culture references.

Most reviews of our music and live shows have always been favourable. One guy once said we’re a cross between hardcore punk and industrial metal. Huh?! WRONG!!!!

8. What is your favourite activity or hobby outside of music – what do you like to do to unwind?

Play guitar. Watching noir films from the 1930s/40s. Also, watching 80’s TV series.

9. Do you have a best and/or worst performance anecdote you’d like to share, and if things do go awry during a show, how do you try to turn things around?

Some drunken stooge at a show was totally hammered, going way too crazy in the crowd. His arms were flailing around like a busted ceiling fan, kicking at the air. At one point he slammed into my mic stand and I nearly lost a tooth. When the song ended, I called him out — ‘Where’s that drunken stuntman?!’ — and dragged him up on stage.

Then I hauled him out the back of the venue… and what happened next between him and me, well, it’s floating around on YouTube somewhere… He apologised at a party a few weeks later.

10. What’s the best piece of advice another musician ever gave you?

Avoid doing interviews!

11. Do you follow a process or ritual before a performance to get rid of nerves or performance anxiety?

I need 5 minutes alone behind the stage. Some Malmsteen stance style stretches, shake off any nerves and the we’re ready for battle.

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

I used to work behind the scenes at concerts years back. Got to meet some big shots. The coolest was Billy Gibbons – mid ‘90s! Morbid Angel, Mantas from Venom.

13. What’s the best thing about being a musician? If you could no longer be a musician for whatever reason, what would be your dream job?

Best thing: entertaining people with the skills and gifts we’ve been given.
Dream job: as above

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

Hehe we hardly do any of that. However, after rehearsals at Seb’s place, we’ll have cake and tea and watch some live DIO dvds.

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

Uh yes, several. I’d rather not mention!

16. If you were made ruler of the world, what would your first orders be?

“Heavy Metal Will Be The Law”. It needs to be in every house, every ear drum.

17. What is your favourite rock n’ roll movie, and why?

Trick or Treat — I saw it when it first came out. I related to Ragman in high school — the long-haired metal creep surrounded by Talking Heads and Dire Straits fans.

18. Talking about songwriting, where do you think the magic comes from?

From anywhere at anytime. I’ve come up with lyrics in the shower. Riffs have entered my mind at funerals. Unexplainable!

19. 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 would kill to have been in the room during the recording of ‘Symptom of The Universe’ – Black Sabbath from their 1975 ‘Sabotage’ album. The is perfection and no other band has ever come close to it. I’d first heard it on a chewed up cassette tape in the mid 1980s. It’s gets played weekly in my life.

20. What, for you, is the meaning of life??

I guess making people feel good via the things you do… Er…musically…

Thanks mate for supporting Aussie metal bands!

https://www.facebook.com/psychonaut.aust
https://www.instagram.com/psychonaut_australia/
https://psychonaut-aus.bandcamp.com/