Lair Fest
Jul
10
12.06pm

LAIRAPALOOZA // Everything You Need To Know


With a number of mini fests run throughout the year in Melbourne, it’s hard to keep track which ones are gaining traction as heavy hitters.

Lairapalooza, the brainchild of life.lair.regret records, is in its third year and features a whole host of both established and up-and-coming acts over the weekend. With both All Ages and 18+ shows on offer, old favourites like Mindsnare are rubbing shoulders with Outright, Reactions, and Force of Will are playing their first show.

Unravel // Photo: Nicole Goodwin

Speaking to the festival’s co-founder Rob Fitzimmons, the key to Lairapalooza’s vision is diversity. Although a number of lineups stick to the same genre, Lairapalooza has melodic hardcore acts all mixed in with sludge, punk, thrash and traditional beatdown. “We’ve run a lot of shows for a lot of bands in Melbourne and we feel really fortunate that we’re able to work with a lot of bands [over a range of genres],” says Fitzsimmons. “So with Lairapalooza, we try to showcase the rest of Australia by putting on a festival that has different bands, different sounds, different themes and different people.”

“So with Lairapalooza, we try to showcase the rest of Australia by putting on a festival that has different bands, different sounds, different themes and different people.” – Rob Fitzsimmons


Finding a new favourite band in a completely separate genre can be a struggle, but Lairapalooza offers an opportunity for people to hear it all in the one location. Only listen to hardcore and wouldn’t ever attempt to wade into death metal? Now’s your chance. “It fills us with joy to hear [when someone finds a new favourite band],” says Fitzsimmons. “Sometimes there’s so much happening that it can be hard to take a step back and see everything going on. In Melbourne you have a post-punk show on this Friday, you have a regular hardcore show and then a more metallic hardcore show. There are heaps of different things happening, but it’s all on the one night. We’ve tried to have the diversity all under the one roof. We cater to people who may not have the opportunity to see the different types of bands. We have Mindsnare playing with people like Enzyme. Reactions have the younger crowd [who are playing] with bands like Unravel who are a death metal band. So we’re showing that under the banner of punk and hardcore there are a lot of different things happening. They’re also all really good so we’re showing off that homegrown talent!”

“We cater to people who may not have the opportunity to see the different types of bands.” – Rob Fitzsimmons


Playing a first show is a daunting prospect, but the all-inclusive vibe of Lairapalooza makes the situation just that little bit more comforting. Fitzsimmons says, “Every year so far we’ve been lucky enough to have bands play their first show. We have Lair playing their final show this year too. At the outset we had plans for three bands to play their first show throughout the weekend but that fell through unfortunately because some people are away for a wedding in Italy.” He laughs, “That’s a great excuse to have though right?”

Sourced from all around Australia, the fest sees a more socially inclusive vibe than weekenders might normally offer. life.lair.regret. records have friends all across the country, and what better way to bring them all down than for a show? Fitzsimmons laughs, “Booking shows is pretty much just booking time to see your friends from interstate and trying to make some money to cover their flight costs!”

Masochist // Photo: Supplied

For those who might not know everyone in the scene as well as they do, the co-founders think they’ve found the solution. “It’s been really fun and with Lairapalooza so far we’ve tried to include social events. The first one we ran we had a picnic beforehand so we were able to have soccer and football set up. We got a lot of people who usually stand around in dark rooms looking at each other, actually interacting. It also gave us the opportunity to see our friends before we set everything up. It was really nice. Last year we had a larger picnic as well so basically each year we’re trying to be more socially inclusive as well as sonically different.”

“Booking shows is pretty much just booking time to see your friends from interstate and trying to make some money to cover their flight costs!” – Robert Fitzsimmons


On the social front, the fest is huge on ideas that will help change the world one small act at a time. “We think punk should be about something,” says Fitzsimmons. “Last year we had the cause of Adopt A Greyhound, and this year we have Scab Duty. A good friend of ours Nicko Lunardi works on the Sea Shepherd boat and in his spare time he goes down to the beach and organises people to help clean them up. He’s campaigning for less single use plastics.”

Lair // Photo: Nicole Goodwin

This year at the fest, the venue are encouraging patrons to bring their own reusable drink bottles or cups to use throughout the weekend. Rob says he made the decision after a month of surveying his own wastage. “Last year we had drink bottles and I did an experiment where I placed a bottle in my car boot whenever I bought one. By the end of the month I had about 30 or 40 sitting there so with little things like that, you can really see the impact they make.”



“We’re also selling tote bags that you can take anywhere like the shops where you’d normally use plastic. It’s taking those punk ideas and showing how they can be practical in the real world, and not just getting up on stage and saying you’ll change the world. A lot of bands talk about it but they don’t let people know how they can actually do it. I know it’s buying a product from us, but it’s like giving money to a friend and that friend is going to help you be a part of the change.”

Make sure to click attending after grabbing your tickets for all three shows here!




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