The Soundwave 2014 lineup is due to drop this Friday, with an expected 63 bands to appear on the bill for the annual hard and heavy music festival, but one band that was slotted into the lineup as a personal favour from Soundwave promoter AJ Maddah, has been dumped from the bill ahead of the announcement.

Along with the introduction of a new Japanese metal stage and the promise that the “metal stages will be back with a vengeance next year!” Maddah also said that the Soundwave 2014 lineup would contain “some ska bands” but a “seminal Aus ska band” has invoked the ire of the promoter and now joins the shunted Fall Out Boy in the proverbial pile marked ‘too difficult to deal with.’

Maddah took to his busy Twitter account yesterday and revealed he had abandoned plans to book the Australian ska act after an issue with management, as FasterLouder report.

Though the Soundwave boss did not explicitly name the group, several hints from Maddah and various reports suggest that it was vintage New South Wales ska act The Porkers, whose lead singer – Pete Porker – Maddah described as “a dear friend” while tweeting late last year his interest in getting the band to reform for Soundwave 2014.


Additionally, The Porkers had teased “could 2014 be ready for Pork!?” on their Facebook page recently, adding further credence to the reformation rumours. But now it appears that relations between Maddah and the band have soured after management began to play “hardball” with Maddah over negotiations for their Soundwave 2014 appearance.

As Maddah revealed in a rant of twittering:

The Porkers are hardly the first band to anger the sensibilities of the Soundwave honcho (nor the last). It was recently revealed that Fall Out Boy were in negotiations to appear on the bill for Soundwave 2014 until there was a dispute about their status as a headlining band. The emo-pop poster boys thought they were fit to top the bill, Maddah and his team disagreed: “They wanted to headline. They’re not big/good enough to headline. They fucked off in a huff,” as the promoter put it.

Then there was the case of Blood On The Dancefloor for Soundwave 2013 in February, who had to cancel their commitments to the music festival, a decision that Maddah was “super pleased” to announce. “I didn’t realise how c*nty their fans were when I booked them. A mistake that will not be repeated,” he told one disappointed fan of the electropop duo.

The Porkers-less Soundwave 2014 lineup is due this Friday and will likely feature ex-Metallica bassist Jason Newsted’s titular metal group, Newsted, Swedish glam metal outfit Crashdiet, Danish act Volbeat, American heavy metal outfit Godsmack, and roughly 60 more bands with plenty of speculation throwing up rumoured bands such as Nine Inch Nails, Iron Maiden, Slash, Alter Bridge, Deftones, Alice In Chains, Kylesa, Papa Roach, and Skunk Anansie. Tickets to Soundwave 2014 are likely  ”$160 + GST + BF. So around $180 to $185 I reckon,” says Maddah.

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

Get unlimited access to the coverage that shapes our culture.
to Rolling Stone magazine
to Rolling Stone magazine