An intrepid fan attempted to sneak into the band’s Your Break gig through the ceiling only to have it collapse under his weight, landing him on-stage mid-show and leaving frontman Travis Everett with minor injuries.

It’s a good example of the level of fandom that Witchgrinder’s horror movie themes and heavy sounds are inspiring, and their following is growing even greater in the wake of the recent release of their second album Haunted.

But it’s not just the fans in Everett’s old stomping ground (he’s from Camperdown originally) that are going the extra mile for Witchgrinder.

The band toured Japan last year and have their eyes set on Europe and the US, Everett said.

“Japan was the last place we were thinking about starting our overseas touring … but it was really good fun,” he said.

“The (metal) scene over there is fairly big, but it’s like Australia in that it’s a really big thing but it gets hidden a little bit because there’s so much going on.

“We were rocking up to gigs and there would be line-ups from the start of the day when we loading in, and people were there with booklets and pictures they downloaded off the internet for us to sign.

“They gave us gifts, art and craft things they made, which was really cool. They were excited for us to be there – they really appreciated us being over there.”

The Japanese tour led to sales of the new album in that country. Haunted is also selling well in France, although Everett is at a loss to explain that one. 

“That one wigged me out a little bit – none of us have ever been to France and we don’t know how the music got there,” he said.

“They’re saying it’s a great album and we’ve got no idea how they’re finding it.”

Everett said Haunted is “a very big step up” from first album The Demon Calling, and it’s been turning heads in the metal media – triple j’s metal program The Racket featured it prominently and the reviews have been impressive.

“Instead of me writing all by myself, (Haunted's) got a lot more input from the other guys – I wouldn’t have got it done without them,” Everett said.

“We were trying a lot of new ideas – I’m singing more bits on this album, there’s a lot of different drumming, we played with tones, and we recorded it pretty much by ourselves and a couple of mates. 

“We didn’t go into a high class studio, but we still got a massive sound.

“The bar’s been lifted for us by this album and not just a little bit – it got lifted very high on this album. It’s a big step forward for us. It still sounds like Witchgrinder but you can see us growing as songwriters.”

The national tour for Haunted wraps up on Saturday night with a show at The Loft in Warrnambool supported by local bands Spaulding and Spooked. 

After that, Witchgrinder will play at Brisbane festival/industry event Bigsound, and then focus on more overseas touring.