The Racket (radio program)


The Racket is an Australian heavy metal radio show airing on alternative youth broadcaster Triple J. The show currently airs at 10pm 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 is a trivia segment, where callers must correctly answer three questions to be crowned "Metal God". 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".

Hosts

Hosts of the show include:
The program broadcasts pre recorded interviews by Andrew Haug with members of leading international bands. Major interviews that have aired in recent years on the show are:
Arch Enemy - Mike Amott

Blind Guardian - Hansi Kürsch

Black Label Society - Zakk Wylde

Celtic Frost - Tom G Fischer

Cannibal Corpse - Alex Webster

Dark Tranquillity - Mikael Stanne

Fear Factory - Raymond Herrera

Killswitch Engage - Adam Dutkiewicz

Lamb of God - Randy Blythe

Megadeth - Dave Mustaine

Nevermore - Jeff Loomis

Nightwish - Tuomas Holopainen

Psycroptic - Dave Haley

Slayer - Dave Lombardo & Kerry King

Sebastian Bach - Sebastian Bach

Satyricon - Frost & Satyr

The Haunted - Anders Bjorler

Testament - Chuck Billy

Virgin Black - Rowan London

Within Temptation - Sharon Den Adel