Even though the full Soundwave 2014 lineup is announced this Friday, it seems that reports about the hard and heavy music festival’s bill continue to flood in.
It was just this morning that the news arrived that a “seminal Aus ska band” had been dumped from the Soundwave 2014 lineup ahead of its announcement after management played “hardball” with Soundwave promoter AJ Maddah, but as one band is dropped it seems another has added, or at least let slip of their part in the Soundwave lineup for February next year.
Melbourne four-piece The Bennies have confirmed that they are one of the local bands to appear on the Soundwave 2014 lineup, presumably as part of the music festival’s Melbourne leg, touted for Friday 28th February. The band, self-described as “Psychedelic Reggae Ska Doom Metal Punk Rock From Hell” took to their Facebook earlier this afternoon to post the following update:
The Bennies’ addition to the Soundwave 2014 bill puts them in the leaks basked, alongside ex-Metallica bassist Jason Newsted, who’s titular musical project, Newsted, are appearing at the festival off the back of their Heavy Metal Music. “[I’m] hoping the record does even better and then I get a little leverage for offers for the band for live performances, obviously the Soundwave one was appropriate and we’ve already agreed to that,” the 50-year-old bassist recently let slip.
Other likely confirmations for the Soundwave 2014 lineup are 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 – as potential headliners – Iron Maiden, Slash, Alter Bridge, Deftones, Alice In Chains, Kylesa, Papa Roach, and Skunk Anansie.
The news of The Bennies addition to the Melbourne leg of Soundwave arrives shortly after the punk-party starters signed a deal with local label, Poison City, expanding a roster that includes The Bennies’ own close friends and touring mates, The Smith Street Band.
In fact, Wil Wagner – frontman for the #ampgate embroiled Smith Street Band – revealed that the title of their new EP, Don’t Fuck With Our Dreams, was directly inspired by an incident in which The Bennies guitarist, Julien ‘Jules’ Rozenbergs was hospitalised after being stabbed with a broken whiskey bottle by an intoxicated punter at an all-ages show after a scuffle that resulted in the guitarist receiving a “20cm by 20cm” gash in his armpit. “Don’t Fuck With Our Dreams was something Jules said during the incident, and that kind of became a motto for the rest of the tour,” Wagner explains.
The Bennies have also recently completed work on the follow-up to this year’s Better Off Dread EP, the new full-length album – the band’s second – recorded at Three Phase Studios with producer Sam Johnson (The Smith Street Band, A Death In The Family) and due for release on 4th November on Poison City Records.
Meanwhile, the full Soundwave 2014 lineup drops this Friday, featuring the introduction of a new Japanese metal stage and the promise that the “metal stages will be back with a vengeance!” Tickets are likely “$160 + GST + BF. So around $180 to $185 I reckon,” according to Maddah, and will go on sale the following week.
The final lineup will contain around 63 bands, but Maddah has conceded that 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
