Spring Loaded Festival Now Also NSW!
The Ultimate 90’s Alt Rock Festival featuring Grinspoon, You Am I, Magic Dirt & more is coming to NSW & QLD this May & June!
After the huge success of their SOLD OUT inaugural festival in Queensland last year, Empire Touring is proud to announce that Spring Loaded will be returning to the Sunshine State AND coming to Sydney in 2020!
The soundtrack to the lives of every 10% Weird Aussie teen who lived their lives through the bands plastered all over their bedroom walls is back. Get off your Berlin Chair, dust off your Doc Martens, dig up an old Comfort Me flanno and rip some holes in your jeans; it’s time to go back to when Life Was Better.
The Spring Loaded Sydney line up features the incredible talents of;
Grinspoon, You Am I, Custard, Frenzal Rhomb, Magic Dirt,
Tumbleweed, Screamfeeder & Caligula.
While in Queenland at the Bribie Island show, playing for your old school pleasure are;
Grinspoon, You Am I, Regurgitator, Shihad, Magic Dirt,
The Fauves, The Meanies & Screamfeeder
The decade that saw Australia’s indie rock scene full of Girls Like That (and Guys Like Us) who took control of the airwaves and festival grounds still remains a high water mark and the bands on Spring Loaded 2020 are playing better than ever! While the era that saw everybody Getting A Three Piece Together and touring around the country on their Fingers and Toes is but a memory, Spring Loaded is bringing some of the best old school alt rock acts together for the ultimate nostalgia trip for music lovers who were there back in the day!
And for those who weren’t there, don’t cry the Tears Of A Clown, this is your chance to experience what your older friends or siblings told you about from back then.
Rocking riffs, fuzzy feedback and that rebellious spirit that is simply lacking from any music since the Sundial ushered in the new millennium.
So if you Like Your Old Stuff Better Than Your New Stuff come and see some of the decades most celebrated acts playing sets that will evoke memories of a Just Ace youth.
You have Never Had So Much Fun.
Get ready to turn Randwick & Bribie Island into mosh pits your 15 year old self will be proud of!
Spring Loaded SYDNEY
Saturday, May 9 – The Lawn @ Royal Randwick*
Gates open 3.00pm
Spring Loaded BRIBIE ISLAND
Saturday, June 20: Sandstone Point Hotel
Pre-sale: Thursday, February 20
Tickets on sale: Monday, February 24
Early bird $99 + booking fee until sold out
GA Tickets $109 + booking fee
VIP Tickets will be available – Details to come
For more information surf to
www.springloadedfestival.com.au
#springloaded
*On The Lawn at Royal Randwick, Spring Loaded will be curated with some killer craft beer and food trucks. The old betting yards have been transformed into a magical space perfect for a festival, which will be limited to 5000 people so definitely get your tickets fast!!
There will be on ground park and the new tram line brings you right to the door!
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
This is a fully licensed 18+ event
Strictly no BYO food or alcohol
This is an outdoor concert, the show will go ahead rain, hail or shine
No tables, tents or sun shelters are permitted
No umbrellas (even if it’s raining) bring good quality ponchos/raincoats and gumboots instead
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SPRING LOADED 2020
PLAYING BOTH NSW + QLD
GRINSPOON
Charging onto the Australian music scene in 1995 by winning that years Triple J Unearthed competition with Sickfest, Grinspoon quickly became a live music staple all over the country. Touring their asses off both here and eventually internationally. While starting life as a heavy riff machine, a commercial edge eventually crept in and the band became a constant fixture on the radio ever since. From the punch in the face that is DCx3 from their debut album, Guide To Better Living, to the sublime, Chemical Heart from and back to Hard Act To Follow from their Aria Award winning Best Rock Album, Thrills, Kills & Sunday Pills, Phil and the boys will have you back in your element.
YOU AM I
Sydney’s You Am I have been synonymous with their hometown’s music scene for the past three decades. They were the first Aussie band to release three successive albums that all debuted at #1 on the Aria Album Charts! Hi Fi Way in 95, Hourly Daily in 96 and #4 Record in 1998. They’ve also received 10 Aria awards from 31 nominations. Besides their Trophy room being chock full of accolades and awards from the last 30 years, they have some absolute cracking songs that are part of every alt-rock fans DNA. From Berlin Chair and Cathy’s Clown to What I Don’t Know ‘bout You and Soldiers.. you know them all!
MAGIC DIRT
Magic Dirt’s second EP, Life Is Better, debuted at #1 on the Australian Alternative Music Chart in 94 where it stayed for a whopping 75 weeks and sold over 20 000 copies! It saw them land a spot on the BDO and play with Hole too. Tours of the US and Europe followed as did runs with all the Aussie 90’s bands you can namecheck. The bands biggest success lay in the 2000’s where Plastic Loveless Letter reached #16 on the singles chart and the album it came from Tough Love peaked at 15 and scored an Aria Nomination for Best Rock Album.
SCREAMFEEDER
During the 1990s, indie and grunge took over the world, Brisbane’s Screamfeeder were right in the thick of it. Although they differed from the low-fi and retro sound of many of their contemporaries to instead go straight for the throat with influences more akin to Husker Du, The Jam and GBV. With seven albums to their name and having played with Rollins Band, Sonic Youth and Pavement among many others, their place in the Aussie alt rock history is assured.
PLAYING NSW ONLY
CUSTARD
Back when the Hottest 100 was dominated by bands with guitars, Custard came in at #7 on 95’s list with Apartment and a year later they played on the Opera House steps as part of the Crowded House Farewell To The World concert (along with You Am I) remember that? Three years later in 1998, the bands biggest hit, Girls Like That (Don’t Go For Guys Like Us) came in at #3 on the Hottest 100, peaked at #52 on the Aria Singles chart and won the Aria that year for Best Video! After such a big year, Custard disbanded, only to come back eleven years later and now play a few select shows a year. Spring Loaded will be one of them!
FRENZAL RHOMB
Featuring everyone’s favourite ex-radio duo of Jay and The Doctor, Frenzal have been at it since 92! Back when tours like Vans Warped and the Big Day Out were regulars on the gig calendar, you could bet your camel that Frenzal Rhomb were on the line up. If they weren’t they were probably out with NOFX, Blink 182 or any other major punk rock band. They played with them all! Up until 2005 their music was banned on the J’s. How did they fix that? Jay and Lindsay became the stations Breakfast hosts! Fucking Genius.
TUMBLEWEED
The Gong’s favourite sons, Tumbleweed have been playing their own brand of acid-rock forever. A post-psychedelic haze with lashings of fuzz-drenched guitar, thumping beat and trippy vocals that saw them open for Nirvana’s first ever Australian show. The band were regulars on the Big Day Out during the mid 90’s, playing the festival an incredible five times and had a string of Top 20 albums with Galactaphonic climbing as high as number 6!
CALIGULA
Emerging from a dark corner of early 90’s era Sydney, Caligula’s take on alt rock added more of an electronic sound to their walls of guitars. Their most excellent cover of Tears Of A Clown saw them get some Triple J and even Triple M love and they toured with the likes of Depeche Mode, Pop Will Eat Itself, Ned’s Atomic Dustbin and The Beastie Boys.
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PLAYING QLD ONLY
REGURGITATOR
The Gurge’s second album, Unit, absolutely owed everything in 97. It went Triple Platinum, won 5 Arias, including Album Of The Year, and peaked at #4 on the charts. Their transition from a straight ahead indie rockers into an act that plays any genre that infects their creative sensibility and takes their fancy has led Regurgitator to be one of those few bands that can play anywhere to anyone and everyone has a good time!
SHIHAD
Like all good things from NZ, Shihad have been claimed by Australia as one of their own. With 9 kick ass rock n roll albums under their belts, these riff lords have endured and seen it all, including that weird bit in the early 2000’s when they were called Pacifier to um pacify the Americans.
With countless tours over their 30 year career, the Shihad live show is one of the most potent you’ll ever see.
THE FAUVES
Melbourne icons, The Fauves have been on the scene since 88. They were one of the first bands on the BDO when it went interstate in 93 and hit their 1000 gig milestone back in 2007 so to call them road dogs is putting it mildly. Known for their witty lyrics full of dry satire and Australianisms, they hold a special place in the hearts of indie rock kids.
THE MEANIES
Back in the day, Melbourne punks, The Meanies were the kings of the underground circuit. Their Ramones fueled riffage and hectic live shows drew capacity crowds everytime they played . Their sets at multiple BDO’s and supports for Nirvana, Pearl Jam, The Beastie Boys and many others have become the stuff of legend.
