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Good Things Festival is nearly upon us, with the Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane events set to ignite on Friday 6 December, Saturday 7 December and Sunday 8 December respectively; and a heap of headline sideshows in the mix for good measure!
Helmed by headliners Korn, the Good Things lineup boasts a horde of old and new favourites, spanning local and international acts from across the heavy and alternative scenes that truly offers something for everyone; and this year, Sydney's Centennial Park festival date will also be a 16+ event for the first time ever.
Ahead of the festival and impending horde of headline sideshows on the extremely near horizon, Good Things Festival has been running a series of videos bringing you all of the news and artist fun, with the weekly news segment All The Good Things and the official pre-festival interview series Good Things Brings bringing you chats directly with the artists themselves; and also helmed by The Soundcheck's Tiana Speter, aka yours truly speaking to you here.
Previously on the series, we've had heavy juggernauts Mastodon, and t P-Nut from iconic Nebraska-hailing icons 311 and Jaret Reddick from Bowling For Soup. But today, it's a chat with Sum 41's Cone McCaslin ahead of the band's last ever shows in Australia...
Sum 41 never fit in. They didn’t give a shit or try to either. Instead, they came out of the gate swinging with a signature style punctuated by pop punk singalongs and hard-hitting heavy metal proficiency. As a result, they’ve cast an unmatched shadow over popular culture, tracing back to their turn-of-the-century domination of TRL up to a rapturous set at the inaugural When We Were Young Festival. Within the span of a year, Iggy Pop tapped them for a collaboration, and they paid a fiery tribute to Metallica for MTV Icon. Their music has surged through major franchises, ranging from Spider-Man to American Pie and Bring It On. They ignited a triptych of classic albums—the platinum-certified All Killer No Filler [2001], gold-certified Does This Look Infected? [2002], and gold-certified Chuck [2004]—and persisted in their second decade with just as much piss and vinegar on the likes of 13 Voices [2016] and Order In Decline [2019]. Slant hailed the latter as “a hell of fun ride,” while GQ applauded how “the band made it all the way back.”
After selling 15 million albums worldwide, garnering two Juno Awards, a Kerrang! Award, and a handful of Alternative Press Music Awards, receiving a GRAMMY® nomination, and packing venues everywhere, they’re going out with a bang—and on their own terms.
For our chat, Cone, aka Jason McCaslin, and I talked about favourite Aussie artists, the bittersweet reality of Sum 41 touring Australia for the last time, plus some Aussie memories from previous visits that we may or may not had to water down for public consumption.... Grab a watch below and definitely don't miss this lot when they hit the Good Things stages next month!
GOOD THINGS FESTIVAL 2024
For ticket info and more, head here
LINE UP:
Korn
Sum 41
Violent Femmes
Electric Callboy | Billy Corgan | Mastodon | Kerry King
The Gaslight Anthem | Jet | The Living End | L7 | Northlane
Bowling For Soup | Alpha Wolf | Sleeping With Sirens | The Butterfly Effect | 311
In Alphabetical Order:
AViVA | Destroy Boys | Dragon | Frank Turner And The Sleeping Souls
From Ashes To New | Grandson | Highly Suspect | Imminence
Killing Heidi (Performing ‘Reflector’ In Full) | Loathe | Reliqa | Taylor Acorn
Plus the return of Stage 666!
DATES AND VENUES:
Friday 6 December - Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne (15+)
Saturday 7 December - Centennial Park, Sydney (16+
)Sunday 8 December - Brisbane Showgrounds, Brisbane (15+)
BY TIANA SPETER