The festivus period has been and gone and apart from giving me headaches in looking and contemplating Top 5s and stuff, there was the capital expense of gift giving to consider. Luckily there are a bunch of shows coming up on the front-9 next year that would make a very merry post Riffmas pressie for a budding headbanger.
Punknats 4 starts at The Old Canberra Inn on the Thursday, 4 January and features a full day of rollicking riffs from Lucifungus, Crapulus Gee Gaw, Slosh Pit, The Cha Cha Chas, Tweekrz, DushkAnu, White Knuckle Fever, Oaf, Unbound, Dirty Sluts, Rooted, and Grim.
Truckfighters bring the big muff fuzz to The Basement on the Thursday, 9 January, celebrating 15 years of their debut record Gravity X.
The Neptune Power Federation produced one of the albums of 2019 with Memoirs of a Rat Queen and they bring it to the Transit Bar live on Saturday, 25 January with Pilots of Baalbek and other special guests!
Yawning Man are doing a big Aussie visit and come to the Transit Bar on Wednesday, 22 January with Numidia. These guys are a band I never thought I’d get the opportunity to see live, such is their unique approach and soundscapes. They’re not like any other band, and are well worth a sus.
Cattle Decapitation have not missed a Canberra visit and their Aussie tour is not going to be any different with a Sunday, 16 February date with Revocation to boot.
You could bundle a Disney+ subscription with a ticket to study up on The Simpsons and go see Okilly Dokilly at The Basement on Saturday, 22 February for all the Ned Flanders-themed breakdowns you can muster.
Sacred Reich and Vio-lence will bring a late ’80s thrash attack to The Basement on Wednesday, 26 February and if you get someone of my vintage a ticket to that one, perhaps prepare some medical insurance in case a hip replacement is required post a good ol’ Surf Nicaragua mosh.
If that show doesn’t call for medical attention in that vintage of punter, the DRI and Hirax double header on Thursday, 9 April will certainly turn any damaged joints to chalk if DRI’s last trip to Canberra at Transit Bar is anything to go by. The ambulance will need to be called for The Basement this time, which is pleasingly closer to Calvary for the surgery.
Wednesday, 25 March sees The Exploited drop by The Basement if the thrash is too much for you to handle and you need some more traditional OI! Punk.
Of course, the juggernaut that is Download is on sale for the Sydney and Melbourne legs in March (the 21st in Sydney) and the list there will only grow as the date gets closer. You already get My Chemical Romance (blergh) headlining the likes of Deftones (meh more than blergh), Clutch (much less blergh and meh), Testament (now we’re talking) and Carcass (all fucking right).
The side shows have begun to slink out into circulation with Carcass announcing four side shows in Tasmania, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide if you wanted to bundle a holiday away over the last week in March.
When Fu Manchu split in half in the mid ’90s we actually got two great bands out of the deal, one obviously being Fu Manchu, the other being the also stunning Nebula. The band come to Australia in March for a run with Sydney band Arrowhead and they are also vying for a place in your calendar. Chuck in their album from June, Holy Shit. It’s a banger.
German fuzz rockers, and I’m not talking about the fuzz picking out from their shorts, Kadavar are back for a second visit to town on Wednesday, 1 April 1 at The Basement. They really haven’t stopped touring since they last came to the ANU Bar with Looking Glass and no doubt their beards are even more impressive this time around.
If you miss out on a ticket to see the actual band Iron Maiden on their Australian tour in May, worry not, for The Iron Maidens will be rocking The Basement on Wednesday, 8 April. The ladies have taken the Maiden classics around the globe for a number of years now and will surely deliver once again.
Hope you had a great festivus everyone and strap in for 2020!
