Get your arse in gear to play Steel Assassins Metal Fest 2018

Posted on December 11, 2017 by Paul 'Browny' Brown

Spread over two days in Sydney, the annual Steel Assassins is A True Metal Festival that features nothing but the absolute best upcoming and established metal bands from across the country (and world too) and YOUR BAND could be on the lineup if you get your arse in gear. Applications to play the event which takes place from November 2-3 2018 have been out since the start of the month so we grabbed Festival Head (banger) Dave Balfour to find out a bit more about the event and what he expects

Mate we have loved watching Steel Assassins grow over the years, how was the idea first conceived?

The first one was held in November 2012 but the idea was something I had carried with me for many years previously when I used to mostly deal in 4-5 band bills and the occasional all day event. A two day fest was an ambitious leap to start out with but I knew it would catch peoples attention straight away and that was a good thing. Thankfully it seemed to work cause here I am now working on the 7th year preparations.

You’ve had a shitload of bands come through since starting, what has been one of your favourite stand out shows/performances by a band?

Yeah there has been a lot of bands and so many great performances. The ones that really stand out for me are MAJISTER reformation set in 2013, LORD doing an all DUNGEON set, TRANSCENDING MORTALITY getting their asses back onstage just for me, both times the mighty WIDOW have travelled all the way from the U.S. to slay onstage and actually a band from this year out of nowhere DRACULA just blew my mind!!

That would also give potential new bands an idea of the calibre of acts you’re working with. Now the submissions are open for bands to play next year, furthermore what exactly are you looking for?

Well traditionally Steel Assassins has worked with mostly Trad/Power/Speed and Thrash bands with a couple of curveballs every year. That’s our format and that’s what our fans like. These styles are rooted in the great decade of the 80’s and an era very close to my heart. We are looking for more quality bands like this. They can be new or 30 years old it doesn’t matter. We will take you if you live down the street or on the other side of the globe. Just as long as you are at a certain level of quality. Sometimes bands just aren’t ready but we encourage them to keep submitting every year though as we do listen and check out all applicants.

We like to think of Steel Assassins as the best of the best so if you impress us it certainly won’t hurt haha A little dose of RUNNING WILD, EXCITER, LIEGE LORD, MERCYFUL FATE and IRON MAIDEN type influence on the sleeve will probably get to my heart strings quicker haha

Perfect, that covers all those questions. Can we expect anything new in 2018?

We hope so. I mean our event is steeped in tradition and that’s a warm feeling for our regulars but we always add a few new extra bits each addition. Guess you’ll all have to wait and see…

I like where your heads at haha anything else you want to say?

Just a huge thank you to everyone who has shown their support and helped with Steel Assassins over the first 6 years. It blows my mind that so many people consider it one of Australia’s Premier Metal events. There isn’t one ounce of commercial angle in what we do and the whole “family” vibe of the weekend is a special one we definitely won’t lose whilst still slowly growing it. There are many people behind the scenes that make it happen. They are all legends in my book.

Keen to give it a crack? Get your submissions in to metalevilution@hotmail.com .
First band announced on New Years Day.