Interview by Kris Peters
Aside from bringing two megastars in The Smashing Pumpkins and Jane's Addiction to Australia, one of the best things about The World Is A Vampire Festival - which kicks off at the Eaton's Hill Hotel in Brisbane on April 15 before hitting the Sandstone Point Hotel the day after - is that a number of Australian bands have been invited along for the journey. While Amyl & The Sniffers, RedHook and Battlesnake will be joining the two headliners at most of the shows, each venue and city sees a local band given the opportunity to open the day.
Over the coming weeks HEAVY will speak with each of those bands, starting today with Brisbane rock outfit PistonFist who have been given the honour of opening both Brisbane shows.
Frontman Geoff O'Leary joined us for a chat about the chance to open for a musical extravaganza like this.
"We're stupid amounts of happy," he beamed. "A little bit humbled and extremely thankful that we've been put in this position. We're very lucky. There's shitloads of talent in Australia and Brisbane and for us to get picked is very humbling."
We pose the question of whether, in even his wildest dreams, he would have thought PistonFist's name would be alongside bands of the ilk of The Smashing Pumpkins and Jane's Addiction.
"No," he laughed. "Easiest question I have answered in a long, long time. Absolutely not. It's a little bit mind boggling."
In the full interview we talk about keeping nerves in check, coming up with a setlist, the other Aussie bands on the line-up and getting the chance to play with them, the wrestling side of the festival and how excited he is for that, who he would have represent PistonFist if the bands wrestled it out, who he would hate to have to wrestle from the headliners and the Aussie acts, last weekend's shows as part of Rockynats, putting down the guitar to focus on vocals and more.