Brisbane’s premier heavy music and dark arts event, the Dead of Winter Festival, is officially rising from the ashes. Dubbed The Resurrection, the festival is locked in for Saturday, 27 June 2026, marking its first return since 2019. Originally launched in 2009, the iconic gathering was forced into a multi-year hiatus following the pandemic.
For its grand comeback, the festival is shifting away from its former home at the Jubilee Hotel to a brand-new venue: the Mansfield Tavern in Brisbane’s southern suburbs. The highly anticipated 2026 edition promises a massive celebration of alternative culture, packing 34 live acts across multiple stages alongside performance art, horror cosplay, visual installations, and dark market stalls. Organisers have unleashed a diverse, genre-spanning lineup headlined by dance-punk and noise-rock heroes DZ Deathrays, alongside heavy hitters like Mammal, Toe To Toe, Beanflipper, and Slim Krusty. Tickets are available now via Oztix and the official Dead of Winter Festival Website.
With the festival fast approaching, HEAVY sent out some questions to all of the bands in order to get to know them better. Today, we chat with BRACE.
Brace is a legendary Sydney-based hard rock/alternative metal outfit originally formed in 2002 by former members of canonical Australian bands Henry’s Anger and Nazxul. During their initial run, they became a powerhouse fixture of the touring circuit, sharing stages with international heavyweight acts like Deftones, Sparta, Cog, and Shihad before disbanding in 2005.
The band has officially reunited after a 20-year hiatus, storming back into the live music landscape with festival appearances at Brisbane’s Necrosonic Festival and dropping brand-new material like Break The Sun.
Q & A (answered by Rod Yates, bass)
HEAVY: DEAD OF WINTER FESTIVAL returns in 2026 after a seven-year hiatus. Why do you think DOW just HAD to return?
BRACE: Because without Dead of Winter, you’ve just got a dead winter.
H: What does it mean to your band to be playing DOW?
It actually means a hell of a lot, and we’re grateful to Kent and the organisers for inviting us.
H: Have you ever been to DOW as a punter or playing?
Sadly, no. But we’re going to make up for it by cramming 10-plus years of bad behaviour into one day.
H: If so, best memories of the day.
N/A
H: It’s a long day of music. What will you be doing to make sure you will still be standing come your set time?
We offer no guarantee that we will be standing come lunch time, let alone our set time. It’s 50/50 at best.
H: Give me your Top 3 Festival survival tips.
- Go as hard as you can as early as you can. Definitely don’t pace yourself.
- Don’t drink water.
- Lose your friends as soon as you get there.
H: Which band – other than yourself – do you think will get up to the most mischief on the day?
If Lindsay and Jay don’t lock someone in a porta-potty then something has gone seriously wrong.
H: Run us through your typical live show and what punters can expect.
We don’t play often, so when we do we bring the ruckus. That’s what punters can expect – a ruckus. No one says ruckus enough these days.
H: If you could get one band on the line-up to cover one of your songs, who would it be and what song would they cover?
Pizza Death covering ‘Covered In Sky’ would be pretty rad. ‘Covered In Pie’, perhaps?
H: What’s your latest release?
We’ve put out a few singles recently: Break The Sun, Anchor and White Line – our first songs in 20 years!
H: Finally, what plans does your band have for the rest of 2026 into 2027?
We’ll probably take a nap. Those singles took a lot of work.
