After being delayed since last year due to the dreaded Spicy Cough, Australia’s newest – and Aussie bands only – festival Uncaged is finally within sight of the first show in Sydney on April 23.
Uncaged features an eclectic collection of bands, covering everything from rock to punk to metal and bringing them all together under one banner to provide a diverse line-up of music that will have something to please everyone.
Wolfmother, You Am I, Magic Dirt, The Superjesus, Killing Heidi, Tex Perkins and Shihad head the one day festival which will visit Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne, as well as a host of local bands such as Twelve Foot Ninja, Bodyjar, Tumbleweed, 28 Days, The Hard-Ons and more.
Melbourne heavy rock outfit El Colosso are flying the flag for all things rock, with vocalist Matt Cooper taking time out from signing autographs to chat with HEAVY.
DISCLAIMER: ENGAGE HUMOUROUS SIDE OF YOUR BRAIN BEFORE CONTINUING. COOPS IS WHAT IS COMMONLY KNOWN AS AN AUSSIE LARRIKAN AND ANYTHING HE SAYS SHOULD BE TAKEN WITH A GRAIN OF SALT OR A TABLESPOON OF SUGAR…
After previous late aborted efforts to get the El Colossus train rolling as part of Uncaged the first show is less than seven sleeps away so are the band allowing themselves to get excited or are they still wary that the threat of the big C still looms large over the world? I don’t like to be pessimistic but in reality anything could happen…
"You know what, you're right,” Coops agreed. “Anything can happen. Let me just tow the corporate line for a while and say it's gonna be incredible and it's gonna be huge and it's about time that we actually started to get out there for festivals. Full credit to Danny Bazzi who has really put his name on the line to organise this. It's chopped and it's changed. COVID has not been kind to the industry to begin with, but I don't really see anyone else in the industry doing what Danny is doing with Silverback and he's actually prepared to take a lot of flak for it. Hats off to him mate, seriously. He's got balls, and what could be more attractive than a man with very big balls?"
Another aspect where festival organisers are ahead of the game is their decision to take most of the line-up to each city rather than chop and change the roster depending on location.
It shows confidence in the ability and drawing power of individual bands and is something that surely must increase the confidence of localized outfits, knowing the people behind the scenes have faith in their performance.
"Honestly, we're a pretty confident band to begin with,” Coops replied, tongue firmly planted in cheek. “It's funny. I actually had someone that I work with who had no idea that I play in a band - which is funny considering how much ink I have on my body and all that kind of thing - and she said that she had listened to some of the music and she couldn't understand why we weren't bigger and I could have gone into the whole spiel about the state of the music industry and all that kind of thing but it's actually something that we get a lot. People that take the time to listen to it often come back and say how come you guys aren't doing more stuff? Well, you know, that's the game. The thing that we really do, that we can really... not rest laurels on... but where we get our confidence from, is playing live. We are the best live band in the world, and I don't mind that getting out. If anyone that plays in a band doesn't think that about their own band, then why fucken play live? I know that really we're not the best but I like to think that we are. At least that we're up there (laughs)."
In the full interview, Coops goes into greater details on why El Colosso are amongst the best bands in the world (and almost convinces us that they are in the process), what sorts of things a band can take out of playing festivals such as Uncaged, how important home grown festivals are for the future of Australian music, survival tips to make sure you are still standing for the final band, El Colosso’s sound and where it comes from, future plans and more.