With the expansion of the Music Festival for SXSW Sydney, access to the public has been widened so that everyone can get in on the action.

While SXSW Sydney is largely directed at industry professionals, the organisers probably thought to themselves, heck this is a pretty good lineup - let the people party! And party we shall. Wristbands for the Festival aspect go on sale Friday 25 August. This is our pick of the artists on the bill.

Adam Newling
Initially raised in Cronulla, Adam Newling is a gruff-voiced Australian songwriter and guitarist, coming in the top 100 in the Triple J Hottest 100 of 2021. He was awarded a number#1 ARIA award for his work on our girl Ruby Field’s album Been Doin’ It For A Bit, so yeah, he’s good.

Automatic 
Automatic are the coolest trio of girls on the planet. How do we know? Because we’ve interviewed them a couple of times now and every single time our palms always get so sweaty because they’re just so cool and we don’t really know how to handle it. Amazing live, lovely in real life and a band we’re always going to be backing, no matter how silly they make us feel.

These New South Whales
These New South Whales, besides being a top-notch punk band, are also a band of extremely funny guys. A punk band good at punking if you will. Their podcast ‘What A Great Punk’ is 10/10, they have their own mocumentary series on Comedy Central and are actually musically talented enough to warrant sold-out shows around the country, UK and Europe.

The Terrys
During a global lockdown, a couple of boys from Gerringong started jamming in their share house owned by a landlord called Terry. Turns out Terry is a bit of a legend, because despite the considerable accolade of noise complaints, he never kicked the fellas out, and so it made sense to call the band ‘The Terrys.’ Since then, they’ve sold out twelve of their debut East Coast tour shows with a 32 date nationwide tour on the horizon. We get the feeling these guys are ones to watch.

Otoboke Beaver
Otoboke Beaver is a Japanese punk rock band from Kyoto, who have enjoyed a slow but steady rise to international touring including SXSW, Primavera Sound and Coachella. They’re unique, bold and have a single called ‘Dirty Old Fart is Waiting for My Reaction,’ so naturally we love them.