Matt Bourke & The Delusional Drunks take out the Meadow band competition
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Matt Bourke & The Delusional Drunks take out the Meadow band competition

Once again this year, we teamed up with Meadow festival and opened up a set time giving an opportunity for an emerging artist from the Geelong/Surf Coast/Otways to score themselves a spot on the lineup. While there was an overwhelming amount of applications, we are pleased to announce that local dirty blues outfit, Matt Bourke & The Delusional Drunks, were the victors and will play alongside this year’s menagerie of artists.

Hailing from Airey’s Inlet, their raw and ruthless stage show will knock punters straight into festival mode when the stage powers up. We sit down with frontman Matt Bourke ahead of the festivities.

Hey Matt! Thanks for taking the time to chat. First up, can you tell us a bit about the band? How did you all come together?
We started out by playing punked-up versions of old blues standards at house parties along the Surf Coast. I’d throw together a group of any mates that were keen to play, every gig was a completely different lineup of band members. Most of the time we’d never practiced and the band members would meet each other on stage for the first time. This was a ton of fun at the time and certainly kept me on my toes, but I decided to take it more seriously and put together a real band about a year ago.

Congrats on winning the Meadow band competition. What originally inspired you to enter?
Thank you!! It was just too good of an opportunity to pass on. We’re really limited on venues down the coast, so it’s an incredible opportunity to be able to expand our audience and play at a well-established festival to an attentive crowd who is there to see some bangin’ live music!

You’re set to perform alongside this year’s menagerie of artists. Is there anyone on the bill you’re especially looking forward to seeing?
The lineup is extraordinary! I’ve been told a countless number of times to go see Mr. Teenage, but I’m so disorganized that I just keep missing their set, so I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen this time around. Donny Benet and Cool Sounds always put on a great show as well

Will this be your debut on the festival stage? Or have you guys played a festival before?
Yeah, this will be our debut festival! We can’t bloody wait!

We believe you guys have attended every single Meadow to date. What does it mean for you to now be on the lineup?
That’s right! I’ve been a big fan of Meadow since the get to. It’s such a beautiful festival with a killer lineup each year and great vibes to match. It’s an absolute honour to play our first festival on their stage, just 15 minutes away from where I grew up so it really is right in our backyard!

You’ve been pretty busy lately, gigging pretty consistently around Geelong, Surf Coast and Melbourne. What’s the best thing about a live gig?
I’d have to say the thrill of playing a rowdy show to a tiny sweat-filled room. There’s nothing like jumping around on stage with your best mates and seeing the crowd having just as much fun as you are.

We know you guys can play, but has there been much time spent in the studio? Is there a release on the horizon?
Our debut single coming out in out in early March which we’re really excited about! We’ve spent some time in the studio with Anna Laverty who has worked with Nick Cave and The Peep Tempel amongst an array of other bands, and local Geelong legend Isaac Barter, so we’re super keen to share the final product with you all! We’ve also got an accompanying video clip to match. With any luck, we’ll have another single and an EP out before the end of the year as well.

Thanks for chatting guys! Anything else you’d like to add?
I should mention that our single launch is on the 2nd of April at The Old Bar with Sid O’neil (The Vasco Era frontman) and Emilee South on support. It would be amazing to see some Geelong and coastal faces in the crowd!

Catch Matt Bourke & The Delusional Drunks at Meadow, which runs March 27-29, 2020 – Bambra, Victoria.