Another Member Quits Soundwave 2013 As Unearthed Band Gets Bumped

This is getting to be a bit silly…

Soundwave Festival kickstarts its 2013 iteration tomorrow at Brisbane’s RNA Showgrounds, but following on from last night’s shock news that Slayer’s drummer, Dave Lombardo had been dumped from the Australian tour, there’s now another musician that won’t be making the trek to Australia for the touring hard and heavy music event.

Hardcore UK act Gallows have announced that their guitarist Stephen Carter has left the band, merely hours before the (former) quintet were set to step on to Australia soil to play five capital cities with Soundwave, and two Sidewaves shows.

The reasons behind Carter’s split are as yet unclear, with naught but a post on Gallows’ Facebook page that reads: “Steph has left Gallows and we wish him the best of luck with his future projects. We will be moving on as a four piece like the early days. First stop Australia.”

The guitarist now joins his brother, former Gallows vocalist Frank Carter, as an ex-member of the band. Frank departed in July 2011, and was soon after replaced by ex-Alexisonfire guitarist Wade McNeil as frontman before the group went on to record their 2011 Death Is Birth EP, which was swiftly followed by their third, self-titled album in 2012.

Speaking to Tone Deaf this past September, McNeil said of his addition to the lineup “I can’t really say what the band did before, all I know is they never practiced and nobody ever gave a fuck.” Adding, “I think the way it worked before was they’d do everything and then Frank would show up and sing.”

Gallows are now focusing on a more collaborative approach. “The best songs are sung from the heart, you know? And when everyone is writing songs together, that creativity, that’s when you get something that’s really special.”

Stephen Carter’s departure from Gallows will not see them pulling the plug on Soundwave, but a young band who were scheduled to play the Perth leg of the festival have had the plug pulled on them.

In League, one of five bands that won Triple J’s Unearthed competition to play Soundwave in their respective capital city, were added to open the day at Perth’s Claremont Showgrounds leg on Monday 4th March, but as Triple J reports the six-piece post-hardcore act have already been bumped from the lineup due to local council’s strict sound curfew.

The youth station notes that In League will “still attend the festival and are meeting with the Soundwave crew about future supporting opportunities.”

The sound curfew placed on Soundwave by the Town of Claremont, as well as the 10pm finishing time, shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise given that the area’s local council’s lack of love for music festivals is well noted. Council representatives have been butting heads with music festivals in the area for some time, including labelling electronic music festival Stereosonic’s punters “the worst ever”, even after deciding to give the green light to the large-scale electronic music festival.

At the time of Stereosonic’s approval in November 2012, Chief Executive Stephen Goode said “They had no blemishes last year so their approval is in the system at the moment ready to be signed off,” adding that, “Soundwave is the one that’s caused all the angst and all the breaches of conditions.”

Complains that led to a similar 10pm curfew and sound monitoring being placed on the Big Day Out in January for its 2013 edition, a decision handed down by Environment Minister Bill Marmion which was no doubt influenced by the Claremont council’s reports of noise complaints and general grievances over the 2012 iterations of Big Day Out and Soundwave.

The news of the departing Gallows guitarist and In League’s shortlived addition to the lineup follows a wave of acts and bands pulling out of the festival.
“The six-piece post-hardcore act have already been bumped from the [Perth] lineup due to local council’s strict sound curfew.”

Late yesterday, Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo revealed that he’d been unceremoniously dumped form the band ahead of their Australian appearance, the fifth drummer now that will not be playing Soundwave in what is jokingly thought of as the ‘Spinal Tap curse’.

“Drummers are seriously ruining my week,” said Soundwave boss and twitter addict AJ Maddah earlier this week, following news that Anthrax’s sticks man Charlie Benante bowed out of the festival for “personal reasons.” Alongside Anthrax’s drummer, the list includes Blink 182′s Travis Barker (with Bad Religion/Tenacious D skins thumper Brooks Wackerman filling in), Six Feet Under’s Kevin Talley due to a bizarre ‘dirtbike mishap’, and long-time member of A Perfect Circle and The Vandals, Josh Freese, announcing he’d quit the band late last year.

Soundwave has had similarly bad luck with guitarists, on top of Stephen Carter’s announcement on the eve of the festival, Aussie guitarist Jona Weinhofen quit Bring Me The Horizon ahead of the band’s visit Down Under, and Anthrax lost their chief shredder, Rob Caggiano, albeit under more amicable terms.

The popular metal festival also had problems when Blood On The Dancefloor announced they too would be cancelling their appearance at the festival, though Maddah was “super pleased” with the announcement that 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 whinging.”

It’s far less a mark of Soundwave’s quality or organisation, and more the nature of having more than 70 bands on a mammoth lineup.

Soundwave kicks off at Brisbane’s RNA Showgrounds tomorrow, view set times for all five stops here.

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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