In 2025, Australia will once again host the freshest up-and-coming talent with the return of NEW BLOOM FEST, a curated touring festival celebrating all things alt rock, post-hardcore, grunge, punk, and everything in between.
After revealing an exciting lineup of Australian openers for March, along with headline sideshows from BALANCE AND COMPOSURE, we’re now thrilled to announce four special headline shows from California hardcore heavyweights DRAIN, supported by the incredible ONE STEP CLOSER. These exclusive DRAIN performances will hit the Sunshine Coast and Hobart in Australia, as well as Wellington and Auckland in New Zealand, surrounding the festival dates.
Pennsylvania’s ONE STEP CLOSER, known for their belief that hardcore knows no bounds, have rapidly ascended the ranks of the alternative scene. With their sophomore album All You Embrace, which Pitchfork praises for its “singalong accessibility, purgative heaviness, and thoughtful craft,” they’ve solidified their place at the forefront of the genre. Having already left a lasting impression on Australian crowds during their 2023 debut, ONE STEP CLOSER’s unique blend of indie rock, post-hardcore, and shoegaze has earned them spots alongside Four Year Strong, Koyo, Real Friends, and Knuckle Puck.
Ryan Savitski from ONE STEP CLOSER dropped in ahead of their trip down under to give us some of my favourite One Step Closer songs to play live, in no particular order!
Blur My Memory
Blur My Memory is definitely one of my favourites to play. That track is so fun, and it’s just super hyped the whole time. And it’s not very hard for me to sing, to be fair. I can kind of jump around on stage and just be a performer, I don’t have to be like: “oh, I’ve gotta stand still and make sure I hit these notes right”. So that one is really fun to play.
Giant’s Despair
I also love playing Giant’s Despair. It’s less of an: “oh, this is a super exciting one”, because obviously it’s a softer song. But I think because of the emotional connection to that song and being able to put that in a set and hear people sing the words back – it’s very special. Especially with how much, as a band collectively, we love that song. That one’s really cool, and the ending section of that song just hits so hard every time that we play it. There’s just something about it!
The Reach
I have to put The Reach in here, just because that’s kind of the one that started everything for us, that EP, From Me To You, and that song specifically. And The Reach just never gets a bad reaction. Every time we play it, people just go nuts, which is awesome! And that was the goal of the song, really. So, as much as I’m like: “oh, we’ve been playing this song for so long”, I still have a lot of love for that track. And I think it’s just because of how fun it is to play live, and how people pop off to it. It’s just an easy song that everybody knows, at this point you don’t even have to try. It’s just natural!
Dark Blue
I really like playing Dark Blue from Songs for the Willow, which is the EP just before our new record. That one has a big singalong chorus in it, and it’s always really fun to play. I think that song was the perfect bridge between the first LP and the second LP. And I think people still go back to that song a lot. Playing that one and hearing people sing is awesome. And also having a bigger chorus but also a cool outro bridge section that people tend to pop off to is really cool.
Leap Years
And another favourite is Leap Years, because with that song – now people know every word to every section, so it’s the easiest one for me. When we play in front of people, I basically don’t have to sing half of it, the crowd takes over, which is awesome! It’s just really energetic and fun. The chorus is super fun to play, and so is hearing people just absolutely lose their minds to it. It’s been sick to really see the progression of that song from when we’d just put it out as a single to it now being the song that probably gets the best reaction almost every single set!
One Step Closer Tour Dates:
Thursday 6 March – Kings Beach Tavern, Sunshine Coast (18+)*
Saturday 8 March – New Bloom Fest, Brisbane (18+)
Sunday 9 March – New Bloom Fest, Sydney (18+)
Monday 10 March – New Bloom Fest, Melbourne (18+)
Wednesday 12 March – Altar, Hobart (18+)*
Friday 14 March – San Fran, Wellington (18+)*
Saturday 15 March – Neck Of The Woods, Auckland (18+)*
*Supporting DRAIN
Tickets on-sale now from www.destroyalllines.com
