With Splendour In The Grass now coming to a close, and the Big Day Out announcing their supposedly epic lineup tomorrow, attention is beginning to turn to the summer festival season and to that end, speculation is once again kicking off over the Soundwave 2014 lineup.
Promoter AJ Maddah may be preoccupied with his two other major events, namely the forthcoming Massive Attack-headlined Harvest Festival and the Aussie return of the Vans Warped Tour, but the wheels are already well and truly in motion for his first and foremost music event.
It may be over six months away, but Maddah has already confirmed that the Soundwave 2014 bill is “pretty much full” with around 60 bands locked in for the country’s biggest punk, metal, heavy and hardcore festival, and with it the rumour mill keeps on spinning, chiefly thanks to the fertile twittering of Maddah himself.
Australian website Heavy certainly knows it and has started putting together a large list of likely and unlikely bands based on both Maddah’s social media account and band’s individual touring schedules; while much of their digging is speculation, some of the dots are starting to connect as what to expect come the official lineup announcement. It may be over six months away, [but] the Soundwave 2014 bill is “pretty much full” with around 60 bands locked in.
A good place to start would be legendary guitarist Slash, who has been chased for the event but would need his singer, Myles Kennedy, in order to take part – so what better way to wrangle him than to book Kennedy’s other band Alter Bridge. The promoter has also responded to queries of Alice In Chains returning to Australia as “looking positive,” though that could mean a headline tour under Soundwave Touring.
Speaking of which, alt-metal veterans Deftones – who were in the country this May for a successful headline tour – may be part of the bill, if Maddah can convince them to come back; tweeting: “The tour has been so huge I am looking to ask them back for SW,” and “You need to encourage the band. I’m already in.” Perhaps Maddah could sweeten the deal by booking in Palms – Deftones vocalist Chino Moreno’s new side-project with the former members of Isis.
Savannah, Georgian sludge metal act Kylesa are also likely for the bill, with the band writing they’d “love to do Soundwave again,” while Maddah has indicated he’d be interested in taking them up on the offer – though Maddah has reportedly indicated there won’t be many doom or sludge acts at the festival.
Instead, there’ll be “some thrash” on the lineup, while the likes of Sabaton, Hammerfall, Helloween, and Manowar have been tossed about, while the bizarre Hollywood Undead are also likely with Maddah saying he’d look into booking them along with black metal forerunners Behemoth.
On the local front, Perth’s Make Them Suffer are “quite liely [sic]” for a future Soundwave bill according to Maddah, while also saying of American ‘folk punks’ Andrew Jackson Jihad that “they can play SW whenever they want,” with the band replying and Maddah getting the ball rolling:
@AJJtheBand let's do it. Meet me over at the DMs!
— AJ (@iamnotshouting) June 3, 2013
Pop punks Zebrahead, Bowling For Soup, the recently reunited Skunk Anansie, Florida hard rock act Shinedown, and nu-metal survivors Papa Roach have also all been referenced in several reports.
Soundwave 2014 will also introduce a new Japanese metal stage, with around nine bands, as Maddah let slip in August but though X-Japan and Crossfaith were both set for the newly introduced stage, Heavy reports that it looks like they’ve both fallen through, though Maximum The Hormone are still likely.
Rumours persist that the newly revitalised Nine Inch Nails, who debuted their impressive new audio/visual show at Japan’s Fuji Rock over the weekend, are potential headliners, while emo-rockers Fall Out Boy are definitely out after having their own fall out with Maddah over their status as bill-toppers.
With the Soundwave 2014 festival dates locked in, all will be revealed sometime in August when the first Soundwave 2014 lineup announcement arrives. The outspoken promoter has already said it’s going to be difficult to top the 10th anniversary lineup of Soundwave 2013, which brought huge attendance numbers from its 70+ strong bill featuring Metallica, Blink 182, Garbage, Linkin Park, The Offspring, Slayer, Anthrax and many more.
Soundwave 2014 Dates
venues TBA
Saturday 22nd February – Brisbane
Sunday 23rd February – Sydney
Friday 28th February – Melbourne
Saturday 1st March – Adelaide
Monday 3rd March – Perth
Soundwave 2014 Lineup Rumours
Nine Inch Nails
Slash
Alter Bridge
Alice In Chains
Kylesa
Deftones
Sabaton
Hammerfall
Helloween
Manowar
Hollywood Undead
Behemoth
Andrew Jackson Jihad
Zebrahead
Papa Roach
Bowling For Soup
Skunk Anansie
Make Them Suffer
Crashdiet
X Japan
Crossfaith
Maximum The Hormone
Volbeat
Godsmack
Shinedown
Lower Than Atlantis
Don Broco
Dead By April.
