DROP BEARS to rock Aireys Open Mic

NOT TO be confused with a Drop Bear (a faux Australian predator), The Drop Bears are a very real band and making waves in the music industry.

The five-piece retro punk rock band made up of members Mikey, Dirty (Craig), Jules, Mark and front man Pete, are set to return to this year’s Aireys Inlet Open Mic Festival (AIOMF) after “conquering” crowds last year.

“The Drop Bears came and conquered Aireys Inlet, they blew the crowd away with their high energy stage show and had the whole town engaged, up and rocking,” this year’s festival director Tony Caon said.

“They headlined Friday night of our festival delivering some of the finest pub punk rock in Australia. Pete out the front takes no prisoners and knows how to work the crowd.

“This sharp hard hitting band played a tight set and had everyone screaming out for more, a show not to be missed.”

Pete Vanda said the band had come a long way since their first rehearsal back in 2014 and would take Friday’s main stage March 16 where they will be filmed for Guitar Gods and Masterpieces on 7mate.

“At our first rehearsal we were overheard by the studio manager who asked us to play a gig and that was at St Kilda’s famous Espy Hotel. A month later we were headlining their Gershwin room,” he said.

“Our demo was played on Triple M, an international rock music promoter overheard it and within five months of our first gig we were supporting USA Grunge Gods Everclear on their Australian tour.”

With three members local to the Surf Coast and Geelong region and two Melbournians, Pete said they started their careers playing grunge/punk covers at places like the Geelong Hotel and Lamby’s, in popular bands such as The Voodoo Surfgods, The Pop Tarts and The Australian Nirvana show.

“We recently completed an Australian East-Coast tour playing headline slots to packed rooms and great reviews with a coveted support slot in Melbourne with USA Punk Legends, Unwritten Law,” he said.

After a brief break from touring in 2017 and the tragic death of founding member and bass player John Healy from brain cancer, the band is in the studio putting the final touches on their debut album, Better than therapy.

“For most of our gigs since his passing, we have had Johnny’s bass guitar, jacket and tie on stage with us. We will launch our album at a national tour mid way through this year and have been contacted by a couple of Australia’s biggest music festivals already,” Pete said.

“The last gig we played on the Surf Coast was at the Torquay Hotel, it was packed and one of the biggest shows we’ve ever played so we’re really looking forward to getting back and playing down here.”