Doors 7:30pm | '68 8:00pm | Civic 9:00pm | The Bronx 10:10pm

All shows at Northcote Theatre are standing room unless otherwise specified
All shows at Northcote Theatre are licensed and strictly 18+

Live Nation presents
THE BRONX
(USA)
The Bronx 20th Anniversary

Californian punk rock band THE BRONX have today announced their return to Australia in November 2023 in celebration of the 20^th anniversary of their first album The Bronx (I). They will be joined by special guests CIVIC (Aus) and ’68 (USA) at Melbourne’s Northcote Theatre, Brisbane’s Triffid, Sydney’s Metro Theatre, Adelaide’s The Gov and Perth’s Magnet House.

ABOUT THE BRONX:

The Bronx formed in 2002, releasing their self-titled debut album the following year. Over the Los Angeles-based band’s 21 year career, The band has released six original albums as The Bronx, and three albums under their alter ego, Mariachi El Bronx. Both iterations of the legendary SoCal outfit have been hailed for harnessing the “unleashed cries of youthful blue-collar anguish” (Los Angeles Times), and for writing “hard-hitting and catchy hard rock tracks” (Loudwire). The Bronx is Matt Caughthran (vocals), Joby J. Ford (guitar), Ken Horne (guitar), Brad Magers (bass) and Joey Castillo (drums).

ABOUT CIVIC:

CIVIC – an origin story since time immemorial, the five-piece came together in 2018 through the traps of the Melbourne music scene. Bonding over a shared love of tightly coiled riffs and a collective musical ethos, they channeled this into their first EP New Vietnam. In a head rush recording session, the 7 tracks were slammed out in a single day, with the underground hit going on to sell out of several pressings worldwide. Making a name for themselves through the intensity of their live shows, their New Vietnam launch would become one of those folklore moments within Melbourne. 

Taking to the stage with a contoured cheek and darkened eyes, McCullough’s glamoured stage presence beamed and boomed over the sold-out crowd. Cutting through the scene with cult-like vigor, their garnered momentum would lead them to a string of sold-out 7 inches, a European tour, a spot on the beloved Golden Plains Festival, a newfound home on the revered Flightless Records, and a fan in punk icon Henry Rollins, “I am digging that band... not one bad track in their recorded catalog”. 

With momentum in the tank, they took to various locations across Victoria to get the beds
 of Future Forecast down. From Richmond’s historic Bakehouse Studios in all its grandeur to DIY run storage shed on High St, there’s a consideration for the new and old on this album. Paying homage to the classics, but pivoting on them with an avant-charged edge. It’s raw, searing guitars; pummeling rhythms; driving bass; with vocals that lock into and synergise with their wall of sound. Balanced by the raucous and restrained weaving of melodies and textures, the imbued sense of nostalgia, and the vocal variation which broadens their sound past any one genre label. There’s the horn fuelled drive of album opener ‘Radiant Eye’, the power-pop ladden hook of “As Seen On Tv”, the emotively atmospheric and vocally subdued “Sunday Best”, culminating with closer “Come To Know”, before ending in a tightly wound splay of feedback and groove. 

ABOUT ‘68:

Josh Scogin kickstarted his small band with the big sound in 2013, naming the two-man outfit he modestly undersells as “a little rock, a little blues, a little hardcore” after his father’s old Camaro. And there’s a muscle car-sized rumble beneath the hood of what the Atlanta, Georgia native and his percussive partner-in-crime, Nikko Yamada, unleash with an array of guitar, bass, drums, keys, and pedals, careening between swinging barnburners, wild haymakers, and moody atmosphere.

The passion, the hunger, the good humor, it all connects with diverse crowds. Deliciously stripped down and vibrant, ’68 excels in intimate environments, to be sure, but is no less unignorable on giant festival stages or on the road with Bring Me The Horizon, Stone Sour, Beartooth, Avatar, August Burns Red, The Amity Affliction, and Underoath, where they’ve earned new converts every day.

In Humor and Sadness, the first album by ’68, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard New Artist Chart. Two Parts Viper followed in 2017. Grammy-winning producer Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters, Rush, Alice In Chains) became a believer after just a few songs of a ’68 set. On ‘Give One Take One’, crafted with Raskulinecz in Nashville, the band’s high intensity bombast threatens but never swallows the underlying groove. - Ryan J Downey

TICKETS ON SALE 10AM FRI JULY 28
Live Nation & Venue pre-sale: Thu 27 July 10am – Fri 28 July 9am

For complete tour and ticket information, visit: livenation.com.au