GRAMMY nominees Knocked Loose joined Jimmy Kimmel Live! as the musical guest last week and brought along Poppy for a brutal performance of some of their latest tracks, including their collab single "Suffocate."
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The Kentucky-based metalcore group Knocked Loose took over Jimmy Kimmel's stage in Los Angeles, and the 2025 Best Metal Performance GRAMMY nominees were joined by the always enigmatic Poppy for "Suffocate," off of their 2024 Pure Noise release, You Won't Go Before You're Supposed To. Fortunately for fans, the pit opened up immediately as they took the stage for their blistering set, but some folks apparently didn't appreciate all the scorching metal after midnight on a weekday.
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The group, who described themselves as “the heaviest band on television” prior to their arrival, received tons of praise from fans, although some viewers were quick to demand an apology from the production. “You know I was trying to enjoy the program. I was sitting on the couch with my son who is an ADOLESCENT waiting to see the musical guest because we like the nice music the show usually books,” one disgruntled and likely sleep-deprived viewer wrote on Facebook. “By the third or fourth ‘JUNT’ from the guitars my son was in tears. He doesn’t like scary things and quite frankly I think the Kimmel show and its staff should make a formal apology.”
Conversely, another user wrote, "My two year old son sat right beside me on our couch and burst in tears because he was so excited to hear one of his mamas favorite bands play right there on the big screen."
Following their performance, frontman Bryan Garris wrote about the surreal experience on Instagram saying, "I’ve been lucky enough that my timeline is flooded with so much support that I see it every time I open my phone. But I wanted a chance to post about it myself," he began. "For a long time now our goal has been to see how far we could squeeze this band into places where we don’t fit and I think this may be the biggest one. National television. It feels like the ceiling gets higher for EVERYONE, every single day. We celebrate this together. Thank you so much."
Garris continued, "Walking down the hallway as we were escorted to stage Im looking to my left and right and seeing photos of all the celebrities that have been on the show over the years. Presidents, actors, musicians etc..." Bryan reveals at that moment he leaned over to guitarist Isaac Hale and said, "'This started in your garage'," after which he says, "he grabbed onto me and squeezed as hard as he could. That’s a moment I’ll never forget."
Finally, Garris added, "PS if it scared you, good." Watch the incredible performance of "Suffocate" below -- and make sure you have your pearls handy for clutching, Karen.