Blind Girls (QLD)
Craning
Ritual Disorder (QLD)
Gush
Gil Cerrone
Wriding
In Her Palms

Situated along Brunswick’s Sydney Road, The Bergy Bandroom hosted the 2026 Echo Bravo Festival on a Saturday evening, from the mid-afternoon to late into the evening. This year’s lineup featured a list of bands just as impressive as the 2025 one, offering local and interstate acts alike spanning (and often blurring) genres of skramz, indie and alternative rock, slowcore, and noise punk. This was such a great night, full of amazing music and lovely socialising as well :)

Joining the rest of my In Her Palms friends, I got on stage first to perform our opening act. This set was lots of fun, with a decent crowd coming into the bandroom for our 4:00 start. One person notably absent from this audience was Liam, who was banned by the security from entering the venue because he didn’t have a driver’s license. Fuck this unfair treatment.. poor guy

Despite this, we were very happy to open for this excellent night, and felt honoured to feature on such a talented lineup of bands. Thankyou sooo so much for the opportunity to play at this festival!

The next band to play after us was Wriding, an atmospheric, ambient slowcore four-piece from Naarm. Through their echoing guitars and repetitive melodies, the group shaped a drawn-out soundscape with qualities ranging from the oceanic to the dry and windswept.

Their performance captivated the room, their slow tempos marking the passage of time as everything else seemed to stand still. Their set was so cool, I love seeing slowcore bands live so much. The members of this band were so lovely as well, exchanging kind words after our sets.

Emoviolence rockers Gil Cerrone, who require no introduction from me, were next at 6:00. Naarm’s beloved five-piece delivered a set blending post-hardcore, skramz, and metal-adjacent genres, permeated with blast-beats, tremolo guitar picking, and plenty of dissonance.

The energy that filled the bandroom was high as a space opened in front of the stage, allowing Michael, their vocalist, an unnerving sense of domain over the floor as he wailed with powerful, harsh expression. The crowd writhed and thrashed along to Gil’s unrelenting performance, following the erratic time signatures laid out by Jordan’s drumming to sway, rock, and surge in an unreliable fashion.

Completely worn out after Gil Cerrone’s set, I departed to find something to eat. I met with my friends briefly at a table outside, then left to go to Kevabs, an entirely-vegan kebab shop also along Sydney Road, only a minute’s walk from the venue. This food was AMAZING wow, upon taking a bite Asher immediately asked me to take him there as well. Yummm!

Unfortunately, pursuing this outing to regain some of my energy meant that I missed a lot of Gush’s set :( From the few songs that I did see from the noisy-alternative-rock-shoegaze group, I was left wanting more of their uniquely layered, heavy-but-dreamy ambient sound. These guys have been a bucket-list band of mine for a while, so I hope I get another chance to see them play or perform alongside them again soon!

Following more talking with friends, I headed back into the bandroom to watch the next act, an indie post-punk band from Meanjin called Ritual Disorder. Prior to the release of the Echo Bravo 2026 lineup, I had not heard of them, but I really enjoyed their set! They shaped a swirling, near-ambient soundscape which was tied down by incredibly tight, catchy (see their song ‘The Fade The Pull’!!) bass playing. Their vocalist’s voice was also lovely, with clean vocals which soared above the deep melodies of the bassline.

This was another really fun performance, which further lifted my spirits. Also after this set, Blind Girls’ vocalist, Sharni, gave both Asher and me a free t-shirt! Aww:>

In the intermission between Ritual Disorder and Craning’s sets, tragedy struck. I ventured across the road next to The Bergy to meet some of my friends in a Guzman y Gomez building. Trying our new shirts on for size in the bathroom, I looked down to see the t-shirt I had been wearing (which had been tucked in the crease of my elbow) in a heap on the floor, in a puddle of a liquid which I am doubtful was water. To resolve this, I asked for a paper bag at the restaurant counter, then journeyed to Woolworths, where I managed to secure the container with tape. As a side note, this shirt has now been washed thoroughly with laundry sanitiser, please no judgement if you see me wearing it again..

I returned from this adventure in time to see the second half of Craning’s act, which I had been very excited for. Hearing and seeing their dark, industrial, and dissonantly avant-garde noise punk performance, I fell in love. Since this night I have OBSESSED over this band and their 2026 album ‘DISTRESS TOLERANCE’. Their stage decoration even further contributed to the set’s atmosphere, featuring flashing lights and mechanical-looking wires immediately evoking an industrial construction site. Earlier in the year, Craning migrated south to relocate from Meanjin to Naarm, and we are so lucky because of it. I look forward to the next time I see them again.

After Craning’s departure from the boards, it was time for Blind Girls, a chaotic hardcore/screamo band from Queensland’s Gold Coast, to play the night’s final act. The energy in the room was buzzing as the festival’s conclusion began, with the band’s hard-hitting and unbridled aggression taking immediate control of the stage. I watched from the passage into the green room as they delivered a performance indicative of instrumental mastery, with each band member’s talent evident in their playing. Their drummer, Ben, was particularly crazy to watch. I hadn’t seen anything like that, as high-tempoed and precise, before. Wow!!

Sadly, I had to exit only a few songs in, avoiding the crowd through the green room’s street-adjacent door. As I collected my equipment and departed, I continued to listen in amazement to the energetic, dissonant catharsis of Blind Girls playing on the stage behind me, not wanting to leave.

The night concluded a little after 10:30pm, though I was not there to see the very end :( This was a great festival with so many talented bands, I can’t believe we got the opportunity to play on this kind of lineup. I had so much fun, and my friends all shared the same sentiment. Many many thanks to the other bands for all being such friendly, sweet people and to everyone else who came along to show support and watch! Thankyou especially to promoter/booker On Second Thought for curating and arranging such a perfect show. It was my first time in a while seeing some heavier bands, and I found that the variety of sounds the musicians playing this year each brought to the table ensured the entire afternoon/evening was enjoyable and engaging. Sorry Liam for the unfair security treatment though</3

photos from the night (click to expand)

photo credits:
@interiminequities on instagram
@bl00dsp0rts_ on instagram