This weekend the Australian East Coast sees the return of Knotfest Festival. After an epic debut in 2023, the Slipknot-penned mega festival will unleash its second edition across Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. Knotfest 2024 will see headliners Pantera, Disturbed and Lamb of God embark mayhem in front of Aussie metalheads, alongside a blazing trail of international and Australian acts.

 

One of those local acts is none other than Melbourne hyper pop-metal act Windwaker, who are seemingly festival regulars on the scene. They’ve played Good Things Festival, Knight and Day Festival and Unify Gathering, which has helped them hugely in expanding their following nationwide. The boys also just unleashed their brand new EP, Enter the Wall less than a week ago which is set to add another level of hysteria surrounding the band’s biggest festival set thus far.

 

We sat down with vocalist Liam Guinane to check in on the lowdown in Windwaker right now. Like releasing that cool little EP no one was expecting. Plus, since the boys are such festival novices now, Liam shares with us his top tips for surviving Knotfest this year.

 

What helps you guys in pushing your creativity as music as musicians with each new song release?

I think for us, we’re always trying to progress. That’s been the biggest focus with the new material, is staying true to what we’ve done and what we’re known for. But we’re also creating a bit more focus and trying to flex a little more maturity with our songwriting. I mean, we’re always experimenting with new influences. Just from my presence alone, I think that’s had a great effect on the kinds of sounds that we’re using. I have a big hip hop background, which you can hear on ‘The Wall’. Jesse had that demo, pretty much ready to go after Love Language. They were sitting down for a while and by the time I got to it, the rest of the boys had pretty much structured the whole thing. It’s what you hear on the final version, but I just had a blank canvas to kind of go a bit crazy and experiment with different voices and different sounds.

 

I love the slow build that’s on ‘The Wall’. Is this song like a small hint to the fans that you want them to initiate a wall of death at Knotfest this weekend?

I mean, that’s quite an idea. That could be in that song, or it could be in another one. There’s two contenders in my brain at this stage, where I feel like a wall of death is definitely appropriate.

 

‘The Wall’ for me, is a reference to like, staring into the void. You know when you’re staring into a spot on the wall, and you’ve caught on that your brain’s going a bit haywire. It’s getting kind of paranoid and chaotic and you’ve got an unfair train of thought sort of thing. That was kind of what I was trying to explore with this song.

 

 

An EP release was a little out of the blue for Windwaker, I must say! I was fully expecting an album honestly…

I must confess we have made a lot of new music in the last year. It will all see the light of day and a lot of it will come out this year. I can’t talk in specifics about it too much, but there’s definitely a lot more new music to be coming from Windwaker this year. It’s all just coming out.

 

While you have definitely expanded your vocals since rejoining Windwaker and even during last year’s Love in the Dark tour. Man, how do you prepare your vocal chords in the lead up to a show?

A lot, a lot of practice. It was especially on some of the songs that we were playing for the first time that needed a lot of drilling. I mean, they were all songs that I was capable of singing, but it’s just getting that muscle memory and finding places in my voice that will allow you to do it consistently night after night.

 

The Love in the Dark tour was a great turnout. It was one of my favorite tours, but the actual routing of it was so rough that I got so sick in the middle of it. So that put a little bit of a damper on some of the shows like Brisbane. Adrenaline kind of kicked in as well. So for a show like Sydney, I was having the after-effects of all the colds and sickness. The adrenaline kicked in and suddenly I had a voice again. I recall being in the greenroom at crowbar before our Sydney show and I was having an absolute anxiety attack because I was warming up my voice and I could hear the hissing of the air, but there was no note coming out. I went, oh my god, what am I going to do? We’re about to go on, in 20 minutes. I just got up on stage and it somehow came back. I think it’s a lot of muscle memory and preparedness. I’ve also been trying to be a lot more fit with my cardio as well, because there’s nothing worse than getting out of breath like mid-song.

 

You guys must be pros at these sorts of festivals now. I remember last year’s Knotfest being so well organised and run, it was one of the best events I’d ever attended. Are you prepared and ready to take on three Knotfest festival shows in a row this weekend?

I heard from pretty much everybody that I knew that went had said basically the same thing. There’s no clashes, and with two stages, it’s going to be so great to be on the main stage of a festival. As you said, we’ve played festivals before. They’re always a fun vibe. But getting to be on a main stage for Flemington Racecourse or Centennial Park or the Showgrounds. I’m so excited for Knotfest and just playing festivals in general. I just love it.

 

Who’s on your top three list of artists to see at Knotfest this year?

I’m gonna say Lamb of God, as they’re my entry into screamo heavy bands. I’ve never seen them live before and I’ve loved every single album that they’ve put out since Ashes of the Wake. I’m hoping that we can catch Speed because they are on straight after us. I’ll say Skindred as well. I have the nostalgic reasons because I’ve loved Skindred for a long time, and I’ve never gotten to see them live. So I think that’ll be a fun show as well.

 

And what’s your best tip you can give to fans to survive a festival like Knotfest?

I’m gonna be Daddy Windwaker here and say drink plenty of water in between the alcoholic drinks. Drink plenty of water, slap on the sunscreen, especially if it’s gonna be sunny and bring a hat only because the sun is very strong. You don’t want to be burnt. Especially for 12 hours.

 

Interview by Tamara May @citylightstam

 

Catch Windwaker in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane this weekend for Knotfest Australia 2024. The tour kicks off in Melbourne on Thursday 21 March before heading to Sydney on 23 March and finishes up in Brisbane on 24 March. Grab your last-minute tickets here