The Racket (radio program)

The Racket (formerly 3 Hours of Power and Full Metal Racket) is an Australian heavy metal radio show airing on alternative youth broadcaster Triple J. The show currently airs between 9pm and 11pm on Tuesday nights and is hosted by Lochlan Watt.

The name was an allusion to the popular Kubrick war film Full Metal Jacket.

A notable, now former segment of the program is the 'Corpse Classic' - three songs played throughout the show off a pre-1987 heavy metal vinyl. Bands featured on this segment have been: Bathory, Suicidal Tendencies, Mötley Crüe, Spinal Tap, Iron Maiden among others. The 'Corpse Classic' was replaced with the similarly themed 'Heavy Metal Troopers' in 2008 because of 'running out of vinyl'. Heavy Metal Troopers involved playing songs by a band that had put out 6 or more albums, regardless of their activity. Artists to be featured included Deicide, Death and Australian figureheads Alchemist.

Other regular segments on the show were "Metal Gods" and "Living After Midnight - Priest Salute". Metal Gods (named after the song by Judas Priest and using the chorus from the song as its intro) is a trivia segment, where callers must correctly answer three questions to be crowned "Metal God". The all-time champion of Metal Gods is Chris Dare of Brisbane. Living After Midnight, also named after Judas Priest, occurs as the name suggests around midnight each week, and simply involves a Judas Priest track played. It replaced the similarly themed "2 Minutes to Midnight" (an Iron Maiden salute).

Hosts

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Hosts of the show include:

Interviews

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The program broadcasts pre recorded interviews by Andrew Haug with members of leading international bands.

Notable Interviews conducted by The Racket
Artist Interviewee Date(s)
Arch Enemy Michael Amott 13 October 2006
Blind Guardian Hansi Kürsch 5 September 2006
Black Label Society Zakk Wylde 21 September 2006
Celtic Frost Thomas Gabriel Fischer 2 July 2007
Cannibal Corpse Alex Webster 13 October 2006
Dark Tranquillity Mikael Stanne 21 September 2006
10 May 2007
Fear Factory Raymond Herrera 21 September 2006
Killswitch Engage Adam Dutkiewicz 24 October 2006
Lamb of God Randy Blythe 24 October 2006
Megadeth Dave Mustaine 24 October 2006
Nevermore Jeff Loomis 24 October 2006
Nightwish Tuomas Holopainen 22 March 2005
Psycroptic Dave Haley 28 March 2007
Slayer Dave Lombardo 13 October 2006
Kerry King 24 April 2007
Sebastian Bach Sebastian Bach 5 September 2006
Satyricon Frost 13 December 2006
Satyr 25 November 2007
The Haunted Anders Björler 24 November 2006
Testament (band) Chuck Billy 13 February 2007
Virgin Black Rowan London 25 July 2007
Within Temptation Sharon den Adel 25 May 2007
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