Broken Hill thrash metal band Firestorm are one step closer to representing Australia and playing what’s dubbed the heavy music equivalent of Eurovision – the Wacken Music Festival in Germany – in August.
Firestorm beat five other bands to win the South Australian heats – Broken Hill was deemed regional SA – of the Wacken Metal Battle, with the next stop the Australian finals in Sydney on May 21.
The weekend before the Australian finals will see Firestorm supporting Australian symphonic metal band, Victoria K, at the Broken Hill Pub on Saturday, May 13, along with a host of acts from NSW, SA, and Victoria – including Broken Hill’s Scream Street, and Broken Spectre from Menindee.
“That’ll be everyone in Broken Hill’s last chance to come and see what we’ve got in store for when we go to the Wacken Metal Battle. It’ll be a pretty decent gig and we’ll probably be the in best form they’ve probably seen us in,” Firestorm’s drummer Ash Meadows told the Barrier Truth.
“The Wacken Music Festival is the biggest heavy music festival in the world,
“What they started doing a couple of years ago is essentially a heavy metal battle of the bands all around the globe.”
The competition encourages unsigned, heavy metal bands to battle it out, with Firestorm – having been a band for just two and a half years – in the category of being underground and doing a lot on their own. Without any music out in the ether for people to listen to, relying on live shows and support has been instrumental in ensuring they take their chances to get themselves out there and succeed in the scene.
“The thing is, heavy metal in Australia, especially in the underground scene, there’s so many great bands that it’s going to be hard for the judges,” Ash says.
“Not to sound pompous or anything, but we do pretty well at holding our own. We’re all very versed musicians. We’ve been doing it for a long time. Most of us have been playing for 20-plus years and doing our own original music. So we’re not new to the whole band scene or being in a band, we just get up, have fun, and it translates well, everyone comes and sees us, and has a good time.”
There’ll be a couple of chances for Firestorm to take the stage and warm-up for the Australian finals of the Wacken Metal Battle however, firstly supporting Udo Dirkschneider – of ‘80s German heavy metal band, Accept – in Adelaide next month.
“With what we do at the level we’re at, we don’t go play places for money, we go play for the experience and just for the love of it. It’ll be great exposure for us, but not only that, it’ll be a life experience for all of us in the band,” says Ash.
“It’d be great to see the community get behind what we try to do. Even if heavy metal is not your thing, it’s a passion, it’s a musician’s passion. It’s just good to see that other musicians who may not be passionate about heavy metal but are passionate about seeing other musicians passionate about it, get behind it.
“I’d like to see the broader community get behind everything music-wise in Broken Hill, because there’s so many great musicians in Broken Hill from every genre. It’s just the more people get out and support that sort of stuff when it comes to town, or when it’s on in town, the more it will flourish and take off.”
IMAGE COURTESY OF ALYSHA MILLIA
