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 NICOLAS CAGE FIGHTER.
Nicolas Cage Fighter is a ferocious four-piece metallic hardcore band hailing from Ballarat, Victoria. Formed originally in 2011, the group blends the aggressive ethos of hardcore punk with the crushing, heavy grooves of 90s metal and modern death metal. They are widely recognized on the Australian heavy music scene for their explosive breakdowns, snarling vocals, and high-energy live shows.
Their signature sound relies on a “riff soup” of styles, delivering punishing double-bass percussion and heavy grooves showcased on albums like The Bones That Grew from Pain (2022) and I Watched You Burn (2025).
Q & A
HEAVY: DEAD OF WINTER FESTIVAL returns in 2026 after a seven-year hiatus. Why do you think DOW just HAD to return?
NCF: The riffs never die baby. How could Dead Of Winter not come back? Legit though, the scene we’ve got here in Australia has always been so supportive of festivals, tours and gigs, and even more so nowadays when everything costs an arm and a fucking leg, and it feels like the world is in a perpetual state of going to shit, if a festival this sick can happen, why wouldn’t ya do it right?
H: What does it mean to your band to be playing DOW?
We’re absolutely stoked to be a part of Dead Of Winter this year. All of us have known about it for a long time, so when we got the offer, we were psyched to jump on board straight away. We know this is going to be bloody massive and to be playing alongside some serious talent and other artists we enjoy, we couldn’t ask for more.
H: Have you ever been to DOW as a punter or playing?
Unfortunately not! I don’t wanna say that we’re cheap bastards, but Brisbane is a fair hike from Ballarat, and all of us have so much shit going on in life that making the trip up isn’t something we’ve managed to do in the past. We’re gonna make our first appearance one to remember, though. I’ve set myself the personal goal of inciting the most violent pit for the day, and I’ll be damned if we can’t make it happen.
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?
Eating enough food, drinking plenty of water, and not getting too pissed before we play. Easier said than done some days, and maybe it’s just because we’re not 20 any more, but sticking to these rules has gotten easier in the last couple of years.
H: Give me your Top 3 Festival survival tips.
Stay hydrated, stretch before you go in the pit, and don’t be a dickhead.
H: Which band – other than yourself – do you think will get up to the most mischief on the day?
Respectfully, Slim Krusty.
H: Run us through your typical live show and what punters can expect.
Big riffs, big breakdowns, and plenty of chances to suplex your best friend into an unsuspecting bystander. If you like it groovy and heavy, you’re in for a treat.
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 reckon Lo! would do a killer job of Existing Beyond Death, but what I really want is Gocsy up there doing it instead.
H: What’s your latest release?
I Watched You Burn, our second album, which we dropped in September last year. If you haven’t heard it yet, you’re missing out.
H: Finally, what plans does your band have for the rest of 2026 into 2027?
We’re heading off to Japan for our first tour there in the second week of June, which we’re stupidly excited for. We’re extremely fortunate to be able to make this work with some very good friends of our Gerbz and Stoja, because unfortunately we recently lost our drummer Davo and bass player Conner to adult life and the never-ending fight of balancing being in a band, having a 9-5 and also attempting to maintain a functional family and social life, which means we’re definitely going to spend some time planning who we’d love to be part of our permanent roster moving forward. 2027 has got some really big things in the works (not allegations), and when the time is right, we’ll share that with you all. Right now, though, our biggest priority is to make Dead Of Winter one to remember.
