I Prevail return this week for their biggest Australian headline run to date, the Violent Nature Arena Tour, and if frontman Eric VanLerberghe is anything to go by, the anticipation has been building for a long time.
With special guests Imminence and Invent Animate in tow, the five-show run takes in Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney — the largest venues the band have ever headlined on Australian soil. It's a milestone that feels earned. Because for Eric, Australia isn't just another stop on the tour routing. It's something closer to home.
"It almost feels like a second home," he told Tone Deaf. "It's such a cool feeling to be on the complete opposite side of the world from where I'm from and have some familiarity and some familiar faces and even some friends that I'm looking forward to seeing again."
This is I Prevail's seventh visit to Australia — and Eric has been paying attention the whole time. Speaking to Music Feeds, he reflected on what it means to have built a genuine connection with this country over a decade.
"It's crazy that I get to go over to Australia and play, I think this is our seventh time, and go, 'oh yeah, there's that cool coffee spot down there. I'm going to hit the record store down there. There's a trading card shop I'm going to go to'. It almost feels like a second home, which is so cool."
That familiarity extends to the music scene itself. Eric told Music Feeds that Australian heavy music has always stood out to him — and not just because of the crowds.
"You guys have such an incredible scene of heavy music. When you hear certain bands you can kind of tell — you're like, 'I think these dudes are Aussie.' They all have such uniqueness to them. You can't always quite put your finger on it… but it feels like it was bred Down Under."
He specifically called out Make Them Suffer, Northlane, Alpha Wolf and Justice For The Damned — and on the crowds: "I feel like when I see bands tour over in Australia, you guys just have a little bit more appreciation for heavy."
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This tour marks a significant personal chapter for Eric. Following the departure of co-vocalist Brian Burkheiser, he now fronts I Prevail alone — and he's spoken openly about what that transition has meant.
"The first tour or two where it was a learning curve to go out there and to be the only guy running the show," he told Blunt Mag. "And it's been a learning experience, but overall it's been fairly smooth."
That growth is reflected in the setlist. Speaking to Heavy Mag about the songs he's most excited to play, Eric pointed to 𝑉𝑖𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑁𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 as a particular highlight — and the moment it became something bigger than just a song.
"It was just a few shows after we released it that I realised I didn't have to sing the 'I'm a sick motherfucker with a violent nature' part. I could just hold the mic out, and the crowd scream it. I'm getting goosebumps now thinking about going and playing our first show in Perth and hearing how loud that crowd's going to be."
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Eric has been vocal about his enthusiasm for the bands joining them on this run. Speaking to Blunt Mag, he made clear that Imminence were a band he'd been watching long before this tour came together.
"Imminence is a band that as soon as I first heard a couple of their first songs, I was just blown away and was stoked when I found out that they were down a tour. So I'm just excited because I'm going to be watching the show up until the moment I got to go get ready myself."
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For all the arena shows and milestone runs, Eric told Heavy Mag that the gratitude hasn't faded.
"In those moments, I've tried my best to remind myself: I'm on a tour bus in X, Y, Z city right now getting to sing and scream at people for a living and hearing stories of people saying this song or that song or that experience either brightened their day or got them through some hardships."
"It's never lost on us how special and how lucky and blessed we are."
I Prevail's VIOLENT NATURE TOUR kicks off this Sunday in Perth. Full interviews with Eric are linked below.
