Lairapalooza: Three Days Of Glorious Heavy Music

5 July 2017 | 4:03 pm | Alex Sievers
Originally Appeared In

Lairapalooza > Lollapalooza.

Lairapalooza > Lollapalooza. 


Presented by Melbourne DIY local legends, Life.Lair.Regret. Records, the third annual Lair Fest III AKA Lairapalooza hits the Victorian capital in just under two weeks time. Over three nights in Melbourne – Friday, July 14th and the weekend of July 15th and 16th - and across two venues with a total of 16 bands, the Aussie hardcore label has pulled together a solid overall lineup consisting of eight Victorian bands as well as eight interstate bands.

As such, let's now get into who exactly is playing this year's iteration!

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The opening night will be going down at Collingwood's Bendigo Hotel, with Australian legends Mindsnare taking up the headlining reigns; primed, heavy and ready from this year's LP, 'Unholy Rush', out now via Resist Records. Acting as the first two dates of their fast approaching national tour in support of the solid, recently released 'March Of Dissolution', South Australia's Reactions will be activating the mosh pits prior to the night's veteran headliners. (You can read our review of that new Reactions album right here).

Trekking all the way over from Perth is Unravel, who some might remember as the opening band for The Black Dahlia Murder's headline tour this year in May. When covering that tour's Brisbane stopover for KYS, our very own Owen Morawtiz said this of Unravel, saying "If you’re a fan of contemporary groups like Nails or Gatecreeper, or even Perth locals like Cursed Earth, then you need to check Unravel out, as they’re doing cool shit and show plenty of potential!".

Then helping to warm up the punters early on for this first night will be the raw punk sounds of Enzyme (made up of members from Melbourne bands, Kromosom and Scab Eater) and thrash metallers in Sewercide, who feature all the hallmarks of thrash; long hair, cranked up volumes, fast drumming and just as fast riffs. Speaking of which, Sewercide will apparently have a new LP out soon via Televisioned Suicide so keen an eye out for that release if they're your thang.

So, not too bad for a first night out, aye? Presale tickets are only going for $22 too!

Now, while day one of Lairapalooza 2k17 will be for the 18+ crowd exclusively, days two and three will aim to provide a more inclusive all-ages environment so that any keen underage patrons can experience some of Australia's local heavy talents.

Moving from The Bendigo Hote over to Footscray's Phoenix Youth Centre, the venue will be filled with metallic riffs and spin kicks as Reactions return to headline this event's second day. Playing alongside the day two's headliners will be their tour buddies in Newcastle's Ill Natured, who just dropped a solid new tape titled 'The Hammer/'Faced With Death' and who also have another LP coming later this year. (One that I am very keen to get my ears around at some stage). One of Resist Records' latest releases this year - 'Hell Bent' - comes from Melbourne's Year Of The Rat, who are basically just Merauder Stigmata + All Out War all wrapped up into one solid whole. 

This second day also marks two key milestones for two of the bands playing. Firstly, it will be the final show of Life.Lair.Regret's labels own vegan straight edge band, X LAIR X as a full eight-piece group. Secondly, it will also act as the very first show of a very new mosh metal crew, Force of Will, a band that features members of both Belle Haven and Crush The Demoniac (who will also get to shortly).

Furthermore, Melbourne hardcore warriors Broken and Western Australia chillers and Second Guess Records faves, Apollo Zen, will also perform on the Saturday arvo.

Concluding this year's Lairapalooza on the afternoon of Sunday, July 16th will be a wicked set from Outright HC; a band that rarely, if ever, disappoints live. Below them on the bill is NSW melodic hardcore act, Homesick, who much like the now disbanded Life.Lair.Regret favourites Rebirth, discuss important issues close to their hearts - both within their music and outside of it - such as being Indigenous, acknowledging the original owners and cultures of this nation's land, and more. Their latest release, 'Won't Let Go' came out via Dogfight Records back in March of this year and you can catch these guys on tour with Vices and Conveyor in late August and September.

Filling out the rest of the bill are Sydney's vegan straight edge youth crew, Fearless, who will be keeping things old school with an 80's hardcore sound and a 90's spirit. The previously mentioned Crush The Demoniac - a band that was sold to me by Life.Lair.Regret as "Melbourne's answer to the Cro-Mags" - will represent the record label with their Hare Krishna, 80's crossover worship. Also, hailing from the Seventh Day Records roster is the loud feminist hardcore crowd Masochist, who will be hitting up Melbourne for the very first time as a band. Melbourne Punk-thrash band The Accursed will also be playing their second last show. And yet despite the band winding down, a new 7'' is set to be released soon via Rain On The Parade Records. And hey, seeing as how they will have travelled all the way across the country, Unravel might as well play another set, right? And so the metal band shall on day three.

Now that that's all done, you can score presale tickets for just $20 for either day or a weekend pass can be acquired for just 35 dollarydoos. Don't miss the 2017 instalment of Lairapalooza if you can help it!



Both Killyourstereo.com and Life.Lair.Regret would also like acknowledge that these shows will take place on the stolen land of the Wurundjeri people, sovereignty never ceded.

Check out the event's flyer and full lineup below!

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