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 MZO.
Monster Zoku Onsomb! (famously known as MZO!) is an iconic, genre-exploding techno-punk and electronic collective from Brisbane, Australia.
Formed in 2004 from a wild mash-up of local alternative DJs, electronic producers, and noise-performance artists, MZO! has carved out a distinct subculture footprint. They are widely celebrated for transforming live music spaces into chaotic, high-energy fiestas by bridging the gap between heavy rave beats, kitsch retrodelica, and aggressive punk rock energy.
Q & A Questions answered by Miss Penelope Leisure – singer and chief whip cracker of MZO!
HEAVY: DEAD OF WINTER FESTIVAL returns in 2026 after a seven-year hiatus. Why do you think DOW just HAD to return?
PEOPLE NEED TO BE WITH THEIR PEOPLE! It’s hard to find ways to meet for REAL these days – these events are so important for our sanity!
H: What does it mean to your band to be playing DOW?
Ummmm… maybe it means that 20 years after we started performing – Brisbane has “got us“ 😉
H: Have you ever been to DOW as a punter or playing?
Actually pretty excited as this will be our first one!
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?
TEQUILA!
H: Give me your Top 3 Festival survival tips.
Shrooms. Besties. No expectations.
H: Which band – other than yourself – do you think will get up to the most mischief on the day?
I hope there is some mischief.. everyone is so well behaved these days! Keep yr phone in yr pocket and resist the urge to film it – live in the moment!
H: Run us through your typical live show and what punters can expect.
The only thing typical about a real live MZO! show is the non stop energy 🙂 We do our best to get people in a mood to let go and melt into a unified rave blob 🙂 We are a conundrum to even ourselves though, as we try to balance creating a show in which you can loose yourself, but also entertaining enough to keep yr attention. We like to keep you guessing and dancing. Revelling in the REAL.
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?
I think Dad Fight would do a killer version of Done, and I would LOVE to see a circle of death form with their crazy crowd as they do it – I would get in there for sure!
H: What’s your latest release?
H: Finally, what plans does your band have for the rest of 2026 into 2027?
Members of MZO! Also run Renegade Playground events, and so far this year we have run a space at Nimbin Mardigrass and are currently planning what we bring to Earth Frequency Festival in October. That keeps us busy, but I do hope MZO! gets to play again this year.. if anyone locally wants to book us, just give us a yell – we don’t bite 😉
