“Drummers are seriously ruining my week” said Soundwave boss AJ Maddah today, after hearing of another drummer mishap just days after Blink 182’s drummer Travis Barker announced he would no longer be travelling down under for the festival due to his fear of flying.

The latest mishap somehow involves Kevin Talley, the drummer for American death metal band Six Feet Under, and a dirtbike, but the details are still sketchy. Apparently Talley was injured enough to force the whole band to pull out of the festival all together.

Featuring the legendary godfather of death metal Chris Barnes, Six Feet Under has been delivering their brilliant brand of unapologetic metal since 1993. Their latest album Death Rituals, sees them delivering bludgeoning slabs of death, doom, and destruction and are regarded as one of the most important bands in death metal.

The festival have not indicated yet whether they intend to seek a replacement for the group on the festival lineup. The cancellation also leaves a gap in the sideshow schedule, as Six Feet Under were due to perform alongside Sylosis in Sydney and Melbourne next week.

The news is particularly disappointing for Aussie fans of the group, as their last tour, in 2012 alongside DevilDriver, was also cancelled at the last minute after the headline act’s Dez FaFara contracted pneumonia just days before the tour was set to kick off.

It’s also the latest in a string of bad luck plaguing Soundwave.

Over the weekend Blink 182 broke their bad news to disappointed fans that drummer Travis Barker would no longer be performing, also revealing that Brooks Wackerman (Bad Religion, Tenacious D), has already been tapped on the shoulder to take over drumming duties whilst on the Soundwave tour.

The heavily-tattooed sticksman has previously admitted that his flying phobia has been an obstacle to the band’s touring schedule, and spoke from the heart this week about the cancellation revealing “I still haven’t gotten over the horrific events that took place the last time i flew when my plane crashed and 4 people were killed, two being my best friends.”

Soundwave boss and serial twitterer Maddah was more pleased however when Blood On The Dancefloor announced they too would be cancelling their appearance at the festival. Breaking the news on Twitter, Maddah said he was “super pleased” the group would no longer be appearing before revealing that “No one really gave a fuck. They’d sold 6 tickets to their sidewaves and all I got from their cunty fans was winging.”

The popular metal festival has also had a few problems with their always-controversial timetables which Maddah has affectionally labelled “whingefest 2013”. The festival have since revised their timetables, including in Perth where they were slapped with a 10pm curfew following a single noise complaint last year.

But it wasn’t only Perth that added new restrictions to the festival, operators of their venue in Sydney decided after tickets went on sale to place a MA 15+ restriction on the festival, forcing a flood of refunds and a second batch of ticket sales that numbered nearly 700.

Still, these issues are mere speedbumps to the seemingly unstoppable Soundwave juggernaut, which has continued to defy the festival marker glut, selling out in record time around the country and enjoying a mostly positive opinion from most patrons.

Soundwave 2013 Lineup

METALLICA/ LINKIN PARK/ BLINK 182/A PERFECT CIRCLE / THE OFFSPRING / PARAMORE / SLAYER / GARBAGE / CYPRESS HILL / BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE / TOMAHAWK / STONE SOUR / BRING ME THE HORIZON / KYUSS LIVES / ANTHRAX / KILLSWITCH ENGAGE / SUM 41 / DRAGONFORCE / ALL TIME LOW / FLOGGING MOLLY / GHOST / DUFF McKAGAN’S LOADED / BILLY TALENT / MOTION CITY SOUNDTRACK / MINDLESS SELF INDULGENCE / THE AMITY AFFLICTION / THE VANDALS / SICK OF IT ALL / KINGDOM OF SORROW / FOZZY / THE LAWRENCE ARMS / SLEEPING WITH SIRENS / CANCER BATS / THE BLACKOUT / GALLOWS / MADBALL / FUCKED UP / VISION OF DISORDER / PIERCE THE VEIL / PERIPHERY / THE SWORD / SHAI HALUD / OF MICE & MEN / THIS IS HELL / MISS MAY I / DANKO JONES / LUCERO / WOE, IS ME / THE WONDER YEARS / POLAR BEAR CLUB / WHILE SHE SLEEPS / CEREBRAL BALLZY / THE EARLY NOVEMBER / SUCH GOLD / THE DEAR HUNTER / CHELSEA GRIN / DEAF HAVANA / RED FANG / VERSUS THE WORLD / THE CHARIOT / CONFESSION / ORANGE GOBLIN / CHUNK! NO, CAPTAIN CHUNK! / SYLOSIS / MEMPHIS MAY FIRE / CROSSFAITH / NORTHLANE / SHARKS / O’BROTHER / MILESTONES / LIVING WITH LIONS

Soundwave Venues & Dates

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2013

SATURDAY 23 BRISBANE, RNA SHOWGROUNDS

SUNDAY 24 SYDNEY, OLYMPIC PARK

FRIDAY 1 MELBOURNE, FLEMINGTON RACECOURSE

SATURDAY 2 ADELAIDE, BONYTHON PARK

MONDAY 4 PERTH, CLAREMONT SHOWGROUNDS

For more information head to www.soundwavefestival.com

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