Following on from The Polyphonic Spree’s Tim DeLaughter spilling the beans that the cult-sized psychedelic pop ensemble would be heading to Australia for Splendour In The Grass 2013 this July, and the juicy rumour that Bob Dylan could be headlining the festival; more of Splendour’s lineup is beginning to leak ahead of its 2013 edition.
After having topped the ARIA charts last week following their recent Laneway Fetival performance and position on Triple J’s Top 100, Icelandic musos, Of Monsters and Men, are rumoured to be heading back Down Under for this year’s Splendour In the Grass.
As FasterLouder points out, in an interview with Triple M lead singer Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir’s confirmed an Australian tour return later this year, insinuating the possibility of a Splendour presence.
“We’re gonna come back here in the winter time for you guys,” says Hilmarsdóttir. Additionally bassist Kristján Páll Kristjánsson was questioned if they were returning for a festival or headline tour, Kristjánsson replied: “I like festivals but when you do four or five festivals in a row you really want to do your own shows. At your own show you can take your time, it’s more mellow,” Kristján explained. “The people that come to your own shows just bought tickets to see you, not the other bands. So it’s different.”
Despite his vocalised preference for a headline tour over a festival stint in general, the timely winter run for their future Australian tour and the East Coast festival dates seem to conveniently match up.
Having conquered Australian radio time with their hits ‘Little Talks’ and ‘Mountain Sound’ while criss-crossing the globe to Sydney, Byron Bay and Melbourne in June last year and late January/Late February this year, it seems Of Monster’s and Men cannot get enough of Australia.
The feeling is obviously mutual with ‘Little Talks’ taking number 2 spot on Triple J’s Hottest 100 last month, only falling behind Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ infectious ‘Thrift Shop’.
Their presence in Laneway doing them many favours, catapulting their debut album My Head is an Animal to #1 beating pop favourites such as Justin Bieber and Bruno Mars and doling out a walloping payback to Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’s presence in the Hottest 100.
If the Of Monsters and Men Splendour rumours become fact, they will join the likes of other bands such as Florence And The Machine and Mumford and Sons who have done the Laneway and Splendour double-up in a year, as FasterLouder points out, much to Australian audience’s delight.
In addition to the Of Monster and Men rumours, Australian favourite Wavves could also be jumping on the Splendour bandwagon, tweeting earlier today:
https://twitter.com/wavves/statuses/301778333090340864
This puts him in line to possibly be performing at Japan’s summer festivals, Summersonic and Fuji Rocks, and an Aussie winter may also be on the books according to FasterLouder. An Australian tour would also follow the release of Wavves’ fourth studio album Afraid Of Heights, due for release on March 26th, which frontman Nathan Williams saying that “the general theme of the record is depression and anxiety, being death-obsessed and paranoid of impending doom.”
hese two additions to a potential Splendour In The Grass 2013 lineup adds to those already tossed around in the rumour mill, including Bob Dylan who may pay Splendour a visit after a Sydney Opera House performance in July according to a Sydney Morning Herald article. Unlikely, but possible all the same.
Then there was Polyphonic Spree frontman Tim DeLaughter’s recent twitter confirmation to play at Splendour, a well overdue return after two years abroad and five years since their last Splendour performance, a mix bag of old and new may be a possibility for Splendour in the Grass 2013.
