Midnight Oil are hitting the studio for the first time in 18 years

Midnight Oil have revealed their plans for the near future, unveiling a few live dates, and their intention to hit the studio once again.

When Midnight Oil announced their reformation back in early 2017, many fans undoubtedly jumped at the chance to see one of the country’s greatest bands live on stage once again.

Following the intense Great Circle Tour, plenty were left wondering what the future may hold for the rock icons. Would they ever tour again? Would they record new music?

Now, with the group already locked in to tour Europe in June and July, we’ve received word of their final Aussie shows for 2019, along with plans to enter the studio for the first time in almost two decades.

Taking to Facebook earlier today, Midnight Oil revealed that in addition to their appearance as Birdsville’s Big Red Bash, they’ll also be hitting up Thirroul and Canberra next month.

“These will be the Oils’ only Australian concerts for 2019 apart from their headlining appearance at the world’s most remote music festival, The Big Red Bash, near Birdsville on July 18,” the group wrote on Facebook.

“Appropriately for a band who are longtime advocates for First Nations peoples, the Canberra show will take place on Reconciliation Day, which is a public holiday in the A.C.T.”

However, the biggest news of the day undoubtedly comes from the confirmation that Midnight Oil will be recording new music for a potential release in 2021.

If everything goes ahead as planned, this will be the first new music recorded by the group since 2001, with their final recordings to date being released on 2002’s Capricornia album.

“We’ve been talking about recording again for years but The Great Circle Tour in 2017 was such a positive experience that it made us even hungrier to get back to making new music together,” explained drummer Rob Hirst.

“It’s a bit early to know what might come out of it yet – we’re just looking forward to getting back into that creative mode.”

To top things off, Midnight Oil also revealed they’ll be appearing at the 1 Million Women LoveEarth Festival in Sydney next month, where they’ll perform a couple of songs in acoustic mode. Check out all the details below.