Latest news with #HotDubTimeMachine
Scoop
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scoop
First Line-Up Announced Formānuka Phuel Synthony Festival 2026
(New Zealand, Thursday 7 August) Duco Events has today revealed the first wave of artists set to take the stage at Mānuka Phuel SYNTHONY Festival, returning to the Auckland Domain on Saturday 21 March 2026. The line-up features both local and international acts Faithless (Full Live Band) (UK), SYNTHONY No. 7, Peking Duk (Australia), Hot Dub Time Machine (Australia), The Black Seeds and The Exponents. Leading the charge is iconic British electronic dance act Faithless (Full Live Band), returning to perform in New Zealand for the first time in over two decades and playing their first live shows in eight years. With a 25-year legacy, 20 million album sales, 10 Top 10 singles and streams nearing one billion, Faithless are true festival royalty. Kiwi fans can expect an electrifying live set packed with classics like Insomnia, God Is A DJ and We Come 1, alongside powerful new material that marks an exciting new chapter for the band. This long-awaited return to the stage is a celebration of dance music's golden era, complete with abstract visuals, immersive lightscapes and laser-led moments that promise a full sensory experience. Also on the line-up is ARIA Award-winning electronic duo Peking Duk, made up of music producers Adam Hyde and Reuben Styles. They first broke out in 2012 with a Passion Pit bootleg, and cemented their place in the scene with their 2014 smash "High", which went triple platinum and won Best Dance Release at the ARIA Awards. Known for their huge energy and genre-blending sound, Peking Duk continue to dominate stages at festivals like Australia's Splendour in the Grass, Falls Festival, and Spilt Milk, and now - Mānuka Phuel SYNTHONY Festival! The 2026 festival will mark the global premiere of SYNTHONY No.7 - featuring a brand-new set list created exclusively for next year's event. Festivalgoers will experience multiple tracks that have never been performed at any SYNTHONY show in its eight-year history, all reimagined with Auckland Philharmonia conducted once again by Sarah-Grace Williams. Known for their infectious grooves and boundary-crossing fusion of funk, dub, soul and roots-reggae, Wellington's The Black Seeds are set to join the stage at Mānuka Phuel SYNTHONY Festival next year. The band have built a global following off the back of platinum-selling albums and an electrifying live show led by vocalists Barnaby Weir and Daniel Weetman. Also on the lineup are beloved Kiwi band, The Exponents! The band will reunite exclusively for this festival, marking their first Auckland performance in three years. Led by Jordan Luck they are set to play all their crowd favourites, including 'Why Does Love Do This To Me', 'I'll Say Goodbye (Even Though I'm Blue) and 'Who Loves Who The Most'. The final act in the initial lineup announcement is Australian party-starter Hot Dub Time Machine, known for his epic decade-spanning sets. Hot Dub is a main stage regular at festivals all over the world, including Europe's legendary Tomorrowland, Benicassim, and Coachella in the USA. This first release offers just a taste of what's to come, with more local and international acts to be revealed later this year. The 2025 edition of Mānuka Phuel SYNTHONY Festival saw a sold-out crowd of 40,000 descend on Auckland Domain, with a $1.8 million production and 2,000-strong working crew. Mānuka Phuel SYNTHONY Festival has fast become a landmark moment on the summer calendar - blending electronic music, orchestra, visuals and nostalgia into NZ's biggest one-day music event. Duco Events Founder David Higgins commented: "We are excited to bring Faithless, one of the most iconic names in dance music, to Auckland for Mānuka Phuel SYNTHONY Festival 2026. This year's lineup showcases a strong mix of international artists and leading talent from Aotearoa. We are continuing to elevate the festival in 2026, with enhanced sound, world-class visuals, creating a premium live experience for all attendees." 'At our core, Manuka Phuel is all about energy reimagined and giving people the fuel for unforgettable experiences. This partnership is built on a shared vision to push creative boundaries, reimagine what we know and energise audiences - 2026 is shaping up to be the biggest, boldest chapter yet for both Manuka Phuel and Synthony' said Alex McDonald, Co-Creator of Mānuka Phuel. Tātaki Auckland Unlimited CE, Nick Hill adds: 'We're delighted to again be supporting this world-class event which is a cornerstone of Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland's summer events line-up. The calibre of local and international artists appearing at this festival is second-to-none and we look forward to welcoming music fans, whānau and visitors from around the region and the motu to this extraordinary event.' MĀNUKA PHUEL SYNTHONY FESTIVAL Saturday 21 March, 2026 Auckland Domain FAITHLESS (FULL LIVE BAND) (UK) PEKING DUK (AU) SYNTHONY No.7 (NEW SET LIST) HOT DUB TIME MACHINE (AU) THE BLACK SEEDS THE EXPONENTS
West Australian
31-07-2025
- Entertainment
- West Australian
Strummingbird 2025: New country music festival announces lineup featuring Jelly Roll, Shaboozey, The Dreggs
Jelly Roll and Shaboozey are set to perform in Australia for the first time at Strummingbird — an inaugural country music festival. Festival organisers dropped the star-studded lineup on Thursday after announcing the new event last week, which will hit the Sunshine Coast on October 25 and Newcastle on November 1 before stopping in Perth at Claremont Showgrounds on November 2. Headliner Jelly Roll will head Down Under for Strummingbird, from the team behind Spilt Milk, marking his first-ever visit here. Global sensation Shaboozey will also make his Aussie debut, alongside the likes of Treaty Oak Revival, James Johnston, Kaylee Bell, Matt Hansen and Hot Dub Time Machine with a rock and country-centric set. It's exciting news for fans after four-time Grammy-nominated Jelly Roll's latest album, Beautifully Broken, debuted at number one on the Billboard Top 200 charts last year. Beyond music, the Nashville-born star has built a stalwart community of fans across the globe through the release of his record-breaking ABC News documentary Save Me. Meanwhile, Shaboozey is sure to get the crowd hyped up with his viral track A Bar Song (Tipsy), which held the top spot of the Billboard Hot 100 for 19 weeks. Unfortunately, Texan country rock outfit Treaty Oak Revival will deliver a blend of Southern rock and punk to the East Coast only, but Aussie James Johnston will bring his modern country style to all cities. Rachael Fahim is another standout addition to the lineup, consistently ranking as one of the most-streamed Aussie female country artists over the past three years, second only to Kasey Chambers. Wrapping up the celebrity sets but keeping the party vibes going is Hot Dub Time Machine who will host a Late Night Riot across all dates. The homegrown party favourite is set to take festivalgoers on a musical journey through time with a country and rock and roll twist. Not only are world-class music acts on offer, but punters can also saddle up for a mechanical bull ride or get rowdy in the Howdy Howdy Saloon for line dancing with Maddison Glover.
Perth Now
31-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
US country hip-hop stars to headline new Perth festival
Jelly Roll and Shaboozey are set to perform in Australia for the first time at Strummingbird — an inaugural country music festival. Festival organisers dropped the star-studded lineup on Thursday after announcing the new event last week, which will hit the Sunshine Coast on October 25 and Newcastle on November 1 before stopping in Perth at Claremont Showgrounds on November 2. Headliner Jelly Roll will head Down Under for Strummingbird, from the team behind Spilt Milk, marking his first-ever visit here. Global sensation Shaboozey will also make his Aussie debut, alongside the likes of Treaty Oak Revival, James Johnston, Kaylee Bell, Matt Hansen and Hot Dub Time Machine with a rock and country-centric set. It's exciting news for fans after four-time Grammy-nominated Jelly Roll's latest album, Beautifully Broken, debuted at number one on the Billboard Top 200 charts last year. Beyond music, the Nashville-born star has built a stalwart community of fans across the globe through the release of his record-breaking ABC News documentary Save Me. Meanwhile, Shaboozey is sure to get the crowd hyped up with his viral track A Bar Song (Tipsy), which held the top spot of the Billboard Hot 100 for 19 weeks. Unfortunately, Texan country rock outfit Treaty Oak Revival will deliver a blend of Southern rock and punk to the East Coast only, but Aussie James Johnston will bring his modern country style to all cities. Rachael Fahim is another standout addition to the lineup, consistently ranking as one of the most-streamed Aussie female country artists over the past three years, second only to Kasey Chambers. Treaty Oak Revival. Credit: Supplied Rachael Fahim. Credit: Supplied Wrapping up the celebrity sets but keeping the party vibes going is Hot Dub Time Machine who will host a Late Night Riot across all dates. The homegrown party favourite is set to take festivalgoers on a musical journey through time with a country and rock and roll twist. Not only are world-class music acts on offer, but punters can also saddle up for a mechanical bull ride or get rowdy in the Howdy Howdy Saloon for line dancing with Maddison Glover.
The Guardian
14-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
The rise of Hot Dub Time Machine: ‘No matter how good a DJ is, you're still pretending to be a musician'
Tom Lowndes wants to tell me a theory. 'I think DJing is the professional wrestling of the music industry,' he says. 'Wrestling, in the end, no matter how good it is, it's still people pretending to fight. The DJ, no matter how good you are, you're still pretending to be a musician.' He doesn't mean this as a bad thing, of course. Since 2011, Lowndes has performed under the persona of DJ Tom Loud, the ringmaster of Hot Dub Time Machine, a hugely popular music party that tours the world. Throughout the 2010s 'Hot Dub' built a cult following at the Adelaide and Edinburgh fringes, before riding the bubbles and crashes of Australia's 2010s festival landscape and playing big overseas slots from the desert of Coachella to a 15th-century Transylvanian castle. Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning Like wrestling, the key to DJing is playing to the crowd, he says: 'I'm all about the connection. The whole time I'm playing, I'm looking at the crowd. My hands can kind of do the DJing on their own.' The Hot Dub Time Machine concept is simple: over two hours, Lowndes takes his audience from 1954 to the present day, skipping across decades and genres with childlike glee. He typically begins with Bill Haley and the Comets' Rock Around The Clock, before leapfrogging from one track to another via shared musical DNA or lyrical themes. In the 1970s, Daddy Cool's Eagle Rock might turn into Boney M's Daddy Cool. By the 1980s, the horn blasts of Diana Ross's I'm Coming Out blend into Eye of the Tiger, which in turn becomes John Farnham's Pressure Down. In the 1990s, Yothu Yindi's Treaty blurs into TISM's Greg! The Stop Sign!!, before Tag Team's Whoomp! (There It Is!) unexpectedly turns into Nicki French's 1994 cover of Total Eclipse of the Heart. 'My process now is that I make a very, very carefully constructed set … and then I don't do it,' he says. '[I'll have] a really orchestrated, intricate, chronologically correct set. I put a huge amount of effort and thought into what songs will work, the energy and the pacing, all that stuff. And then I look at all their faces and go, 'No, they just want to hear [Earth, Wind & Fire's] September right now'. 'What I do is daggy – I'm a retro DJ,' he adds. 'But when you're playing George Michael and Fred Again within half an hour of each other, there's something about that that makes the George Michael cooler by association, and makes the Fred Again more fun.' Lowndes' early music tastes were shaped by Triple J's request line and his parents' Stones and Beatles cassettes, followed by a heavy metal phase. A stint in London introduced him to ecstasy and rave culture, before returning to Australia to settle into his first career as a sound designer. He spent a few years working on Channel Nine's Underbelly series, and added horse noises to nearly 200 episodes of McLeod's Daughters – he even supplied the crunching metallic noises when Claire's ute fatefully went over the cliff in season three. But he could 'feel the death knell of the Australian television drama', that he was going to need to find new work soon. Sign up to Saved for Later Catch up on the fun stuff with Guardian Australia's culture and lifestyle rundown of pop culture, trends and tips after newsletter promotion 'There's a real cliche of the bitter sound guy, and I could just feel myself turning into one of those,' he says. 'I just wanted to make my own thing.' During another job, on the Channel Ten sketch comedy show The Ronnie Johns Half Hour, he befriended comedians like Heath Franklin, Felicity Ward and Dan Ilic. Lowndes had been dabbling with DJing in his bedroom when Ilic invited him to DJ at comedy shows. It took a while to find his feet. Drawing from his TV background, he started incorporating video clips and pop culture references into his act, which he called Tom's Video Dance-a-Rama – 'which was also wildly unsuccessful,' Lowndes says. With the help from some friends, including Ronnie Johns alumnus Jordan Raskopoulos, he landed on the time-travel gimmick, and a catchier name: Tom's Video Dance-a-Rama became Hot Dub Time Machine, a play on the largely forgotten comedy film Hot Tub Time Machine released the previous year. The novel, crowd-pleasing format suddenly clicked. Lowndes' early success on the Fringe circuit landed him slots at music festivals like Splendour in the Grass and Falls festival. With his management, he soon expanded into the festival market in 2016 with Hot Dub Wine Machine, which saw Lowndes regularly play to between 8,000 to 15,000 punters at wineries around Australia. 'It was a whirlwind. Everything we touched was more successful, more exciting. We would throw more money and do all this stuff, more alcohol, more drugs,' he says. 'It's funny to hear these rock'n'roll cliches coming out of my mouth as a time-travelling DJ. But it did all happen, and then all of a sudden, you're like, 'Hang on, how the fuck did I get here? I don't want to be someone who owns a festival. I'm not a business person, I'm a DJ.' Meeting Lowndes in Adelaide at the start of his latest Hot Dub tour, he's now left much of that behind. He parted ways with his former manager, sold his Wine Machine stake for a dollar during the pandemic, and cut out alcohol entirely. 'I've been sober for five years,' the father of three reflects. 'I used to just be drunk and continue the party. I think everybody in the music industry at some point reaches a point where they have to reckon with alcohol. 'It's really cool drinking and partying with 21-year-olds for a long time, but then all of a sudden it's not cool. You have got to decide – do you want to be the older guy in the industry who has his shit together that people can look up to? Or do you want to be that older guy in the industry who's a bit embarrassing?' Later that night, as Lowndes bounces on to the stage like a gangly human pogo stick, beaming at the crowd over his moustache and triggering 2010s-era air horn effects, it seems his wrestling theory might be on to something. When he performs karate chops to conduct the crowd in a mass sing-along of Abba's Voulez Vous, there's no doubt. 'I know, it's a weird way to make a living!' he yells into the microphone – and the next banger plays. Hot Dub Time Machine's show Can't Stop is touring Australia and New Zealand from 29 March–24 May; see here for all dates.
