Introducing GATHER SOUNDS, a brand-new two-day music festival in Adelaide programmed and headlined both days by Adelaide heroes Bad//Dreems, who will perform alongside their mates Beddy Rays, Phil Jamieson, West Thebarton, Caitlin Harnett & The Pony Boys, Dr. Piffle & The Burlap Band, The Empty Threats, Jack Griffith, Don’t Thank Me Spank Me and more.
Inspired by their love of footy and their hometown of Adelaide, Bad//Dreems have programmed GATHER SOUNDS to coincide with AFL Gather Round, when more than 50,000 footy fans from all around the country will descend on the city.
“Gather Round has been great for Adelaide and we saw it as a unique opportunity to spotlight and celebrate local and independent music.” says guitarist Alex Cameron.
The festival is comprised of two distinct days. Friday night will see Bad//Dreems officially launch their Ultra Dundee album, supported by local legends West Thebarton. Then on Saturday the venue expands to a full two-stage mini-festival, from 2pm ’til midnight as Bad//Dreems play a collection of their hits, as well as some covers of classic Aussie songs with the help of some friends, alongside headliners Beddy Rays and Phil Jamieson.
The news comes alongside the release of ‘Irish Airman’, Bad//Dreems third single from their upcoming fifth studio album, Ultra Dundee, due on 20 March.
Bad//Dreems fifth studio album, Ultra Dundee, is a crystallisation and extension of the vision that began with their seminal debut album Dogs at Bay and has continued over their four albums to date. Recorded earlier this year and produced in conjunction with Dan Luscombe (Amyl and the Sniffers, Courtney Barnett) at Mixmasters Studios in Adelaide, it will be released via the band’s own record label, Gutto Records on Fri 20 March.
Following on from singles ‘Shadowland’ and ‘Ultra Dundee’, Bad//Dreems guitarist & songwriter, Alex Cameron says, “Irish Airman is inspired by the WB Yeats poem “An Irish Airman Foresees His Death”. An initial recording was made during the Lockdown with John Lee, an amazing producer who has made great albums with artists like Lost Animal and Laura Jean. As is often the case we found it hard to replicate what was captured on this recording, so we ended up using many elements of it, in addition to what we recorded in Adelaide at Mixmasters.”
Directed by Kaius Potter ‘Irish Airman’ is the third instalment of a four-part film series based around the character Ultra Dundee, played by Ben Marwe. Haunted by the men who came before him, Ultra Dundee stands at a crossroads: will he repeat his forefathers’ cycle or forge a new path? The film reverberates with the echoes of history, examining how harmful forms of masculinity perpetuate intergenerational trauma and violence.
Having spent a large portion of 2025 touring, from their own sold-out Dogs At Bay 10th Anniversary Tour to supporting Grinspoon on their national 30th Birthday Bonanza, Bad//Dreems are match fit and raring to go with another round of high energy, sweaty shows.
Performing songs from Ultra Dundee, alongside all the hits, Bad//Dreems will headline shows in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane throughout April and May, supported by The PretLittles, Don’t Thank Me Spank Me and Caitlin Harnett & The Pony Boys.
Due to high demand, a second Sydney show has been announced, alongside the inaugural two-day GATHER SOUNDS festival in their hometown of Adelaide.
GATHER SOUNDS takes over the beautiful outdoor Cloisters and UniBar at Adelaide University, just a decent Malcolm Blight torp from the Adelaide Oval. The location, the footy, the City of Churches and a line-up of some of the best acts from SA and beyond – what more could you want?
BAD//DREEMS PRESENTS ULTRA DUNDEE
Fri 10 – Sat 11 April – Gather Sounds, UniBar, Adelaide
Sat 18 April – Thornbury Theatre, Melbourne
Thurs 30 April – Marrickville Bowlo, Sydney – NEW SHOW
Fri 1 May – Marrickville Bowlo, Sydney – SOLD OUT
Sat 2 May – Brightside Outdoors, Brisbane
Revered as one of the most vital guitar acts in the country, Bad//Dreems have come a long way from their humble origins in an Adelaide whitegoods warehouse in 2012. Produced by Mark Opitz (AC/DC, INXS, Cold Chisel, The Angels, Divinyls), their debut album Dogs At Bay picked up nominations for an AIR Award (2015), National Live Music Award (2015), SA Music Awards ‘Best Live Act’ (2015), SA Music Awards ‘Best Release’ and ‘Best Group’ (2016) and was included as an honourable mention in Rolling Stone’s Greatest Australian Albums of All-Time. They drew plaudits from such diverse luminaries as The Avalanches and Cedric Bixler-Zavala (At the Drive In) both of whom chose the band as their Australian support act. Robert Forster of The Go-Betweens declared their song ‘My Only Friend’ “a masterpiece of Australian Rock”. The band followed this up with critically acclaimed albums, Gutful, Doomsday Ballet and Hoo Ha!, the latter of which garnered a nominated for ARIA’s ‘Best Rock Album’, placed at #2 on Double J’s 50 Best Albums of the Year and earned them a nomination for Double J Artist of the Year.
As well as taking inspiration from the isolation they felt growing up in the suburbs of Adelaide, Bad//Dreems’ song writing aims to strip away the veneer of comfortable Australian suburban life to reveal the bizarre, the dark, the twisted and the beautiful that lies beneath. With authenticity at its heart and a desire to challenge the status quo, Bad//Dreems capture the confusion and anger of their protagonists eking out an existence in today’s world (‘Cuffed & Collared’, ‘Low Life’, ‘Northern’), the suburban ennui (‘Desert Television’, ‘Hoping For’) and the terror of the angry (often male) mob (‘Mob Rule’, ‘Bogan Pride’). Whereas many of their contemporaries project their righteous anger outwards at the subject of their malcontent, Bad//Dreems vocalist Ben Marwe steps into the shoes of the protagonist, imbuing the songs with a unique cathartic quality – particularly evident in their live show.
Their notoriety as an unmissable live act has seen them tour extensively across Australia, UK and the US, with Bad//Dreems recently taking their Dogs At Bay 10th Anniversary Tour around the country to play the seminal songs that have left such a lasting impression on their fans. When Dogs At Bay was released in 2015, it exposed the raw, unfiltered soul of Australian suburban malaise and masculine vulnerability in a way that few albums at the time dared to. With its gruff guitars, defiant swagger and undercurrent of existential yearning, Dogs at Bay wasn’t just an album – it held a mirror up to a certain aspect of Australian psyche. Beyond its sonic punch, the album’s deeper impact lies in its legacy: it gave permission for a new wave of Australian rock to be both literate and loud, introspective yet raw and rough, paving the way for acts like Amyl and the Sniffers, The Chats and Pist Idiots, and the resurgence of pub rock as a vehicle for storytelling. As guitarist/songwriter Alex Cameron said at the time “We wanted to show that it was ok to like football and poetry.”
Bad//Dreems have also vehemently voiced their support for truth telling and the recognition of the ongoing mistreatment of Aboriginal people, demonstrated by Dogs at Bay closer ‘Sacred Ground’ and the anthemic ‘Jack’ which deals with the whitewashing of Australian history, as well and their iconic triple j Like A Version cover of Warumpi Band’s ‘Blackfella/Whitefella’ featuring Peter Garrett, Emily Wurramara and Mambali.
So much so, the band’s 2023 tour through Arnhem Land with Jabiru group Black Rock Band, and their performance at the 50th anniversary of the Wave Hill Walk-Off at Kalkarindji’s Freedom Day Festival, played a large role in the inspiration behind the songs on their upcoming album, Ultra Dundee, which will be released on the band’s own label, Gutto Records.
Gutto Records ushers in a new beginning for the band, following on from band members Alex Cameron and Miles Wilson appearing on ABC 4 Corners episode Music for Sale in late 2024, where they discussed the difficulties many artists face to survive in the current industry. Now fiercely independent, Ultra Dundee will mark the second album release on Bad//Dreems own label, after their first release, the Quality Meats live album, sold out in just two days.
BAD//DREEMS ‘ULTRA DUNDEE’ IS OUT 20 MARCH VIA GUTTO RECORDS
PRE-SAVE & PRE-ORDER ‘ULTRA DUNDEE’ ALBUM & MERCH
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