MULGA BORE HARD ROCK (NT)

FRI JAN 19

Known around the world as the band of school kids who travelled from their tiny community in the Northern Territory to open for their heroes KISS at the Gold Coast leg of their ‘END OF THE ROAD tour in 2022, teenaged First Nations hard-rockers MULGA BORE HARD ROCK are set to hit Melbourne January and Feb and March 2 Hobart LAUNCESTON in January, February and March.

The group kicks off its second Southern sojourn (they first visited Melbourne to open Australia’s largest First Nations festival, Yirramboi, in May 2023) with their own headline show at Melbourne’s home of hard rock, the Cherry Bar, on Friday January 19. They then appear at Songlines’ Share The Spirit Festival at the Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne on Survival Day followed the next night opening for iconic First Nations groups No Fixed Address and Blackfire at the Brunswick Ballroom on Friday January 27. After heading back home for school, the group will then return to play the St Kilda Festival on Sunday February 18 and Mona Foma in Hobart on Saturday March 2.

With a sound that owes as much to early AC/DC and fellow Alberts rockers like the Ted Mulry Gang, the early Angels and early Rose Tattoo, as it does to the early rifferama and glam theatrics of their heroes Gene, Paul, Ace and Peter, MULGA BORED HARD ROCK comprise six family members from the remote central Australia desert community of Akaye (Mulga Bore), located 2 hours northeast of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory.

It was front man Alvin Manfong, the (now) 19-year-old singer, songwriter and lead guitarist, who first came across KISS on YouTube when he was learning to play guitar. He instantly fell in love with the music, the clothes the make-up and the whole vibe. When he got his cousins and brothers to form a band, their style emerged through jam sessions and covering classics by KISS, Status Quo and Guns N’ Roses, along with playing their own originals, which are sung in English and their Anmatyerre language.

Representing their tiny community school of around 15 students from bubs to seniors, MBHR started to gain attention when they were crowned Battle of the Bands champs at the 2022 Battle of the Bands NT competition.

Not long after MBHR found themselves opening for none other than KISS on their End of the Road farewell tour stop at Gold Coast Cbus Super Stadium. The opportunity emerged through a series of serendipitous social media direct messages, by their manager, filmmaker Rebecca McLean, to KISS and industry contacts pitching MBHR to open for their heroes. The appearance resulted in national television, radio and press coverage via the likes of Channel 9’s Today Show and ABC TV and Radio.

The band are working hard to bring their anthemic songs and glam rock flair to even more music fans and have so far released a couple of singles: ‘Big Train’, inspired by the powerful freight train that speeds through their town on its journey from Adelaide to Alice Springs to Darwin, and the self-explanatory anthem “Let Me Rock’n’roll”.