Australian crowds are a fickle bunch; they don’t think twice about forking out the big bucks for an internationally touring band, but are reluctant to front the cash for home-grown talent.
While mainstream festivals draw tens of thousands of people a year, local gigs often struggle to get 100 people through the door.
“Australia has some of the best musical talent in the world,” says Heavy Magazine’s Executive Editor, Olivia Reppas, “and we need to invest in the future of our own music scene in the same way we support international bands”
“It’s really important that we preserve our rock and metal culture – not only is it socially relevant and artistically valuable, it’s a part of Australian history.”
Putting their money where their mouth is, Heavy Magazine present Brewtality – “a celebration of rock, metal and beer!”
Festival organiser Jay Clair says the event is designed to draw attention to the high calibre of Australian acts sitting proudly alongside their international counterparts on rock and metal stages around the globe.
“There’s a good group of people continually supporting the Australian live music scene,” says Clair, “but it’s still very much a minority group.”
“Brewtality is an awareness exercise to get people to crossover from being only international, mainstream music fans and recognise the amount of bands they never knew about that are awesome as well.”
The festival, set for October 12, 2013 will run between two of Melbourne’s most renowned local music venues, The Tote and The Bendigo Hotel, legendary for giving a swathe of popular Australian artists the chance they needed to get noticed.
Hoping to be next in line are Melbourne melodic metal quintet Scar the Surface, who are launching their debut album at the festival.
“Events like Brewtality not only keep iconic music venues such as The Tote alive,” says bassist Elliot Williams, “but they give the next wave of Australian metal bands the chance to launch their careers. You can put that in context for any style of music. Without bands, venues wouldn’t survive; without venues, bands wouldn’t get out of the garage.”
Williams is excited by the prospect of the upcoming festival, and says Scar the Surface are ready to exhibit all the hard work they’ve been putting in to their much-anticipated release, From The Shadows To The Fire.
“This could very well be Melbourne’s biggest rock and metal event for 2013, and to be a part of it on any given day, let alone your album launch, is a real buzz. This festival is going to succeed because it is put on for the people, by the people. ”
In support of the local music community, the motivating forces behind Brewtality are exactly that – the desire to give something back to both the fans and the bands who have supported the magazine as together, they cultivate the history of Australian rock and metal.
“Most of the bands on the lineup have either been featured or are being featured in the magazine,” says Clair, who will also be taking the stage as vocalist for modern groove metal band Bronson.
“It was all an in-house project where we wanted to support the bands that supported us.”
Headliners for the festival include band of the hour (and perhaps the year?), King Parrot, who graced the cover of the most recent print edition of Heavy, and Australian heavy metal champions, Dreadnaught, who featured in the same issue as Heavy Legends.
As if all that’s not enough, Heavy have tapped in to Australians’ one sure-fire weakness: beer! The festival is being presented in conjunction with new Victorian brewing company, Killer Sprocket, who are donating three free beer tasting coupons to all ticket holders.
With tickets selling fast Brewtality is shaping up to be one of Australia’s finest heavy music events this year. You can purchase tickets here and view the event page here.
FULL LINEUP:
King Parrot, Dreadnaught, Scar The Surface (Album Launch), Desecrator (Vinyl Launch), Electrik Dynamite, King of the North, Frankenbok, Bronson, Heaven The Axe, Witchgrinder, Don Fernando, The Deep End (Single Launch), Midnight Creepers (QLD) , Orpheus Omega, Truth Corroded (SA), House of Thumbs, Zelorage (SA), The Charge, Internal Nightmare, I am Duckeye, Hailmary, Join The Amish, Hadal Maw, Infiltraitor (SA), Abreact, Diprosus, Bury The Truth, Drifter, Audemia.
