Words by Cecilia Pattison-Levi Photos Charlyn Cameron
Windwaker brought their Smile, You’re On Camera tour blow-out to a huge crowd at the Tivoli in Brisbane. The venue was bursting at the seams as the four bands: Dregg, RinRin, The Pretty Wild and Windwaker delivered an absolute riot of a night as crowd surfers crashed over the barrier, the mosh pit circled and walls of death collided.
What was fascinating about the four bands performing at the Tivoli was the bending of the metal genre into new and old forms. Metal, as a musical style, has an innate ability to inspire, mutate, embed and adapt to a range of sonic influences from its own past and borrow from other musical genres. Dregg, RinRin, The Pretty Wild and Windwaker are bands that have taken the metal template and smashed it into their own distinctive metalcore soundscapes.
With four bands on the bill, and the curfew at the Tivoli extended to midnight, everyone was up for a big night. I was lucky enough to get along to a VIP meet and greet with the United States, Nevada-based band The Pretty Wild. It was a significant event as the band were here on their first ever Australian visit and it was their debut here in Brisbane. Windwaker’s VIP session was also huge with lots of people wanting to catch up with the Melbourne-based band.
The night commenced early with Melbourne-based band Dregg who were given the assignment to start the crowd warm-up. The band were fresh off the high seas of the Hellbound Cruise, like many people in the crowd, as Christopher Mackertich, Zak Thom, Aiden Zovic and Caleb Brew brought their big thrumming basslines, guitar solo skills and heavy breakdowns to the Tivoli.
Dregg got the crowd hooked in with ‘I Can’t Remember The Future’ and really set the tone for the night that would be defined by heavy guitar riffs, big basslines, huge drums with added beat blasts and flourishes of skittish electronics and other sounds in the mix. ‘In Search Of’ and ‘PCP Wednesdays’ saw the circle pit open. ‘LV West’ and ‘Butterscotch Biscuits’ heard the request for “bodies to start moving” as the first seven crowd surfers washed over the crowd and into the waiting arms of a happy looking security crew.
Dregg were ‘Feeling Fine’, before they brought the 2000s nu-metal edge to the sound of the night. The band featured the heavy songs from their latest album The Art Of Everything with ‘Dress Down’ and ‘Subscribe To Kill Your Own Mind’ delivered with the instruction “to turn this place upside down”. Dregg closed out their set with the powerful track ‘Dog C**ts’ and the crowd were well and truly in the zone.
There was a relatively fast turn-over of the stage for RinRin. I was so excited to see RinRin (aka Qarin Hipe) and her fantastic three-piece band K.R. (Krishna Rey) Arguelles, James Judges and Lawrence Lozada here at the Tivoli. I have seen the Perth musician twice this year and I love the kawaii metal style melded with glitchy hyper-pop, heavy metalcore sounds she is making and her song powerhouse attitude and fantastic song writing.
RinRin and her masked band mates launched into their set with the stand out ‘Gunmetal Black’ and her sense of humour on show with ‘Corn Dog’. RinRin’s songs unravel dystopian narratives of survival, revenge and resilience, all wrapped in anime-inspired look and feel and ‘Killher’, ‘ChainsawGirl’ and ‘Fcknrun’ demonstrate in full.
The crowd went off when ‘Built Diff’ saw an early appearance of Windwaker’s lead vocalist Liam Guinane on stage performing with RinRin. The two bands have a long history together with Chris Lalic also producing some of RinRin’s early songs, helped create her debut album Welcome To The Nuthouse and they have since collaborated on Windwaker’s 2026 song ‘Click’.
RinRin seamlessly switched vocal styles from harmonic, pop-hooks to brutal metal screams as she owned every inch of the stage. The crowd had no choice but to mosh, dance and have a great time as she stated “I can see you my circle people” before sharing her experiences with racism, and teaching the crowd some Filipino swearing, on the defiant banger of a track ‘FOB’.
The set was over too soon, as the ‘Fever Dream’ washed over the crowd. The venue was thoroughly ‘Washed’ as RinRin and her band thanked the crowd for listening and closed out the set with a deep, metal scream before departing the stage.
The stage was stripped back for the Las Vegas-based band The Pretty Wild. The crowd down the front of the venue were pretty hyped about this set. People had flown in from New South Wales, Perth and around the state to see the first ever visit of The Pretty Wild to Brisbane. The buzz was audible and ‘frissoning’ was a thing as we counted down the 17-minute wait.
The Pretty Wild are sisters Jyl and Jules Wilde and their band: drummer Nick Taylor and guitarist Mason Wright. The band are a bit of a ‘Paradox’ and have that ‘bLAcK oPs (m@n!a)’ working for them. I got a VIP ticket to see this dynamic band of clever song writers and musicians as I have been following them since 2023. I heard the most amazing song ‘Xanax And Champagne’ arrive on my Spotify “you will like this” suggestion. It was a song with a country style bent, the song writing was first class. The Pretty Wild are now experimenting in metal, although this is not metal as we know it, it’s a blend of pop-laced metal or metal-laced pop with added harsh vocals, clean vocals, rapping and the odd ‘cough’ for good measure.
The Pretty Wild got stuck into bringing that thrilling sonic mix with the “song for the girli pops – I know you put your hands up” with the huge singalong of ‘Button Eyes’. Then, the songs from their fabulous debut album Zero.Point.Genesis were featured, slightly out of set order, with ‘Living Ded’, ‘Infrared’ and then the fan favourite ‘Omens’ being performed with an “Oops” moment.
The Pretty Wild, then, dedicated the song ‘VessüL’ better known as ‘SiNGULAR!TY’ to the OG fans who were having “a whale of a time” down the front. The band just delivered their unique style with such a professional performance. The rage and sizzling fury of ‘Sleepwalker’ or ‘sLeepwALkeR’ made for the perfect set closer. The song that had set TikTok alight saw the crowd go nuts as full singalong mode was hit, the crowd surfers landed and the whole venue bounced.
It was a fabulous debut in Brisbane for The Pretty Wild and we hope they return to Australia soon.
The stage was stripped back. The leads and cabling for the lighting looked impressive as the stage hands, sound and lighting and music techs got everything ready for Windwaker. The venue went dark and the 1940s war song by Vera Lynn ‘We'll Meet Again’ was played and brought us a sense of perspective on the times we are living in. It was very clever!
Then, the lights started as the massive rig framing and flanking the stage began whirring as dancing red, blue and white lights beamed across the venue. It was dazzling! The opening song ‘Low’ from Windwaker’s latest album Smile, You're On Camera launched the set. It was followed with a quick “Hello Brisbane” as two fan favourite older songs were delivered in ‘Superstitious Fantasy’ and ‘Tabula Rasa’ as the crowd surfers got back into the action.
It was an impressive start from Windwaker. The band Liam Guinane, Justin Keurntjes, Indey Salvestro and Chris Lalic have cultivated one of Australia’s most fiercely loyal heavy metalcore fanbases. The VIP cohort for the band was big and the experience they gave fans was truly wonderful and generous and I could see the love in the packed-out venue for them.
The band’s live stage presence was fun and they really delivered the heavy with ‘Overlord’ as the first wall of death of the evening occurred. Then, the song performed with RinRin ‘Click’ was played. The band played up their roles as Liam Guinane danced around the stage with his sunnies, Chris Lalic’s drumming was totally impressive as the guitarist Justin Keurntjes and bassist Indey Salvestro hit those big riffs. The crowd was waving, clapping, head banging in time to the band’s instructions.
It was ‘Do Or Die’ as ‘Sirens’ made the crowd go off! The following song ‘Venom’ was an interesting change in style as Windwaker bent metal their way with rapped and autotuned vocals and a huge breakdown. The band continued to ‘Break The Rules’ and after the big fun of ‘Lie To Me’ they even had a piano croon singalong to ‘Lucy’ that inspired the waving of phone lights.
Windwaker, then, brought out RinRin again (not complaining here – just happy) to perform ‘Loser’. Then, the announcement was made from Liam Guinane that the end of the regulation set was here as the band performed the last song in the set ‘DNA’.
The encore came on swiftly as Windwaker brought the night to a close with a huge end of tour celebration with ‘Victory Lap’ and ‘Closer’ had the crowd singing, moshing and dancing as the last crowd-surfers swashed into the barrier.
The night was a great blend of open-minded metalcore from four bands forging their own exciting paths. It was a fun and inclusive concert and it brought together a broader fanbase of people new to the metalcore and heavy metal scene: and that capacity crowd embraced it!
