Interviews

Australia’s legendary band Mental As Anything is set to make a historic comeback for Bluesfest 2026 – the first in 25 years – as original founding members Peter O’Doherty and brother Reg Mombassa reunite, leading an exciting new lineup to perform once again under the iconic banner Mental As Anything.

Bluesfest regulars, the legendary Australian blues band, Backsliders return in a reinvented format – celebrating and paying tribute to long-time drummer and key songwriter, Rob Hirst, who passed away last month after a tremendous struggle with pancreatic cancer.

South Summit  has quickly emerged as a unique and powerful voice in the Australian music scene. Known for their blend of indie-rock, reggae, and hip-hop – since forming in 2020, the five-piece has rapidly earned a reputation for their high energy live shows, emotional depth, and impressive musicality.

Hailed by Rolling Stone as ‘a rare 21st century guitar hero and the undisputed future of the blues’, Christone ‘Kingfish’ Ingram stands at the crossroads of history and innovation, channeling the spirit of the Delta, while boldly reimagining what comes next.

Steve Poltz has fun on stage. Steve Poltz has fun off stage. Every show has its own vibe. Raucous, joyous, improvisational and always strange. Stellar guitar work and songs that will have you smiling one minute and crying the next.

Formed in Byron Bay in 2003, Parkway Drive have risen from teenage metal underdogs to global heavy music icons. In 2026, they return home for a defining moment, delivering their first ever hometown performance since their Byron Bay High School shows in 2014 – and their first ever Byron Bay festival performance.

Released in 1985, The Pogues’ album Rum Sodomy & the Lash is a cornerstone of punk and alternative rock, renowned for its raw energy, poetic lyrics, and infectious melodies. In just under three months the band are set to play the legendary album in full, including B-sides, extended version tracks, plus a special selection of their most beloved material, at Bluesfest.

They have performed alongside some of the biggest names in music – but you probably wouldn’t recognise any of these musicians if you passed them on the street. Such is the nature of being a ‘sideman’ (or sidewoman) – a musician who is integral to a performance but tends to avoid, or be left out of, the limelight.

Austen Tayshus is on his way up north and he wants you to know it! But what he really wants you to know is that in 1998 he won the world’s largest short-film festival, well, that’s part of what he wants you to know. What he really, actually REALLY wants you to know, is that he has made another film for the same festival and the deadline is in 15 days!

Trouble of the Good are an emerging Northern Rivers velvet-alt indie band weaving threads of psychedelic, blues and folk into their sound. Their original songs are honest and evocative, driven by the striking polarity of sweet, haunting vocals against riffs that linger long after their songs end.

Matthew Rankin’s genre-defying, absurdist comedy, Universal Language co-written by Pirouz Nemati and Ila Firouzabadi, is set in a dream-like Winnipeg that feels as much like Tehran as it does Canada.

This year, the Byron Bay International Film Festival (BBFF) will be screening an extraordinary film, Journey Home, David Gulpili– an intimate and deeply reflective film, that walks alongside family and community as they honour ceremony, memory, and culture, offering the audience and a rare, moving insight in the meaning of returning home to country.

As the Nimbin Roots festival finalé draws closer the artist line-up is proving that this festival will go out with a bang! Making their way from Adelaide, ARIA winners and AMC SA Music Hall of Fame inductees, The Audreys, have spent a big part of this year touring their new album, Ruin & Repair, featuring a selection of newly-penned songs honouring the legacy of their late founding member Tristan Goodall (01.01.1974 – 02.07.2022)

Film director Damon Gameau (2040, That Sugar Film) invited eight children on an epic adventure across Europe in a school bus powered by biofuel. Their mission: to better understand the planet’s predicament and take the conversation into the boardrooms of some of the world’s largest polluters and most influential companies.

Proud Gunai Woman Kirli Saunders (OAM) is an award-winning multidisciplinary artist, author of nine books, poet and singer-songwriter who will bring her bold, boundary-pushing voice to the Byron Writers Festival.

Byron Writers Festival talked to British novelist Esther Freud in the lead-up to this year's festival.

Debra Dank is passionate about the environment, especially as her Country, on the Beetaloo Basin, is under threat of being fracked. Her latest book is Terraglossia

Tony Armstrong found national acclaim as an AFL player turned TV personality. Now he’s a successful children’s book author and will share his latest book Maggie the Dragon at Byron Writers Festival’s Kids Program.

Ziggy Ramo is an award-winning artist whose work spans music, literature, film, and performance. This year, Ramo brings his powerful voice and vision to Byron Writers Festival.

As excitement builds for the inaugural Mullum Roots Festival headlined by The Waifs, Seven talked to one third of this iconic Australian act, Vikki Thorn about so many things…