Jason Finlay // BEHIND THE BRAINS // Meltdown Festival Australia

Byron Hall
Mar 6, 2018
3 min read

As most of avid mosh-heads know, a new festival by the name of "Meltdown Festival". Loads of mags have been hailing this as a successor to the likes of Soundwave and other touring festivals. They're not completely wrong, I see Meltdown with loads more potential. Not just in ticket sales but getting bands honest fans, possibly a few broken bones too. Seriously It's not often at all that you see a festival come from such humble beginnings. The 'brainchild' of Jason Finlay,who also started Dirthouse Agency.

I was lucky enough to have a chat with him where I was able to coax him into *leaking* some acts who are yet to be announced.

Hey Mate thanks heaps for chatting with me on this gloomy Tuesday, How are you and what are you up to?

I’m currently attempting (and failing miserably) to paint the house my wife and I just purchased. So doing that while getting ready for tomorrow’s 2nd/final Meltdown line up announce has been hectic! Haha

As you know, I'm a pretty big fan of your work, and a few bands you've worked with too. How hard was it to make this into fruition, can you give a brief rundown on how it went from a dream to reality?

Cheers mate, I really appreciate the support you give! Dirthouse Agency started early last year with 3 bands and quickly grew into about 15 bands which wasn’t really what I was expecting to be honest. The first 12 months were a massive learning curve for myself though, as DHA is a one man show. I’ve had a few bands come and go now but I feel like it was all apart of the process to be where it is today. I’m currently sitting at about 14 bands and I really believe in all of them!

Did you choose all of the bands who are Meltdown Festival yourself?

Yeah, I spoke with a few bands that I wanted very early on, like Sumeru, Never and The Black Swamp and they were all very helpful in sending across suggestions on who would suit and be good to play with but ultimately I was the one locking them all in.

Which of the bands playing are you most keen to see?

Oh that’s tough, Gay Paris are always a good time but I have seen and worked with them before so I’d say Never from Melbourne. Great guys (I actually work with one of the guys with his other band Frankenbok) and I haven’t seen them live yet as this will be their first time playing Sydney and Brisbane.

Can I ask you to leak a name of one of the bands playing who are yet to be announced?

I’ll give you a couple of sneakies!! For The Wolves are playing Brissy, I’m very keen to watch those guys and The Social Norm in Sydney will be a good set to catch. Melbourne I have a killer band joining the line up called Skull Fork they will be doing a special 20 min set and is run by Sam Haycroft of I Am Duckeye. The band features people with special needs and killer talent. It is a great concept that I’m more than happy to get behind, I believe music is for everybody and those guys prove that I think.