Paul Travers

Paul Travers has spent the best part of three decades writing about punk rock, heavy metal, and every associated sub-genre for the UK's biggest rock magazines, including Kerrang! and Metal Hammer.

Articles by: Paul Travers

Metallica Load era

"If people think we’re a heavy metal band...I don't really care": how Load and Reload changed Metallica forever

By Paul Travers published

Metallica were already one of the world's biggest bands in the mid-90s. Then came a chapter in their career that'd change many fans' perceptions of them for good

Type O Negative posing against a white background

Type O Negative’s Dead Again: the triumph and tragedy of Peter Steele’s final album

By Paul Travers published

Arguments, drugs and drunken jams: looking back at Type O Negative’s swansong album Dead Again

Palaye Royale

"We were at each others throats": Inside the intense, freaky, fairytale world of Palaye Royale

By Paul Travers last updated

Meet Palaye Royale, three brothers from Las Vegas, with a bold new album, a unique worldview and big, big dreams

The White Stripes

Every The White Stripes album ranked from worst to best

By Paul Travers published

Ranking the studio albums of The White Stripes, the little band from Detroit who became a very big noise

Hayley Williams + Gerard Way + Avril Lavigne

10 things to look out for at this weekend's When We Were Young festival

By Paul Travers last updated

The 'World's Biggest Emo-Fest Ever!' aka When We Were Young is set to take over Las Vegas this weekend: here are 10 things worth getting over-emotional about

My Chemical Romance, Halloween 2006

"Overcoming darkness is a beautiful thing": How My Chemical Romance battled ghosts, addiction, the Daily Mail and Kasabian to take over the world with The Black Parade

By Paul Travers published

The story behind My Chemical Romance's transformation from cult punks to global superstars with the gloriously ambitious The Black Parade

Metallica against a purple background with an inset of Anti Nowhere League singer Animal

The story of Metallica and the ‘obscene’ punk cover that got them banned from MTV

By Paul Travers published

“It just felt good to blast the words ‘cock’ and ‘fuck’”: the story behind Metallica’s shocking cover of Anti-Nowhere League’s punk classic So What?

Bob Rock and Metallica

Bob Rock thinks “the rules of metal are very confining”, says “Metallica stretched the boundaries” on Load and Reload

By Merlin Alderslade published

Mega-producer Bob Rock, who worked with Metallica on Load and Reload, has some interesting thoughts on their mid-90s output

Green Day Nimrod cover

Green Day's Nimrod at 25: how Billie Joe Armstrong learned to stop giving a f**k about punk rock rules

By Paul Travers published

Released on October 14, 1997, Green Day's fifth studio album taught Billie Joe Armstrong to trust himself and no-one else

Alice In Chains DIrt album cover

10 things you never knew about Alice In Chains’ Dirt

By Paul Travers last updated

Riots, broken limbs and firings – this is the story behind Alice In Chains’ landmark second album Dirt