The wait is nearly over. Blacken Open Air – to be held from September 19 to 22 – Australia’s most unique heavy music festival, has dropped its full line-up for 2025, featuring an electrifying mix of international icons, exclusive reunions, and homegrown heavyweights.
This is not a rehashed, derivative or template event, it is a reinvention. We are building on what we’ve done in the past, while reinterpreting the reason for doing it. In 2025, we’ve searched the globe for artists that bring the extreme, the inspiring, the outrageous and the absurd, representing the real diversity of voices in the heavy music space. Not just across Australia and New Zealand, but from America, Europe and Asia as well.
And what better way for you to know what to expect than a personal, up close Q & A session? Today, we get to know Bunny Racket.
BRIEF HISTORY:
10 years ago in the Californian desert, Bunny Racket kicked off a career of rocking the kids around the globe with their debut album – Rock’n’Roll Animals. With a little help from Brant Bjork and Robby Krieger of The Doors, the stage was set for parents to burn all their Wiggles records and embrace the power of the ROCK! Countless festivals, parties and primary school gigs over the years have led them right into the dead centre of Australia.
LATEST RELEASE: POWER
GENRE: ROCK
WHY PEOPLE SHOULD CHECK YOU OUT AT BLACKEN OPEN AIR: Come n see who is flying the rock’n’roll flag for the kids of the new generation.
THREE THINGS PEOPLE MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT THE BAND: Boom Boom Bunny was the drummer for The Vines and Wolfmother before locking in with Bunny Racket. Wizard Bunny is also known as ‘Rebel Wizard’ in his other incarnation as a metal lord. Ed Mundell of Monster Magnet joins Bunny Racket on their second album – Bunny Racket in Space.
HEAVY: BLACKEN OPEN AIR 2025 is approaching fast. Are the nerves kicking in yet?
BUNNY RACKET: The hair on the back half of our heads seems to be growing a lot faster that the hairs on the front, and it seems that we have been struck by lightning more consistently in the lead up to the festival.
What does it mean to you to be playing at BLACKEN?
It means that we get to party with the kids of the NT! We get to run around under the stars with our metal family, and we get to howl at the black moon! We are so pumped!
BLACKEN has been called Australia’s most unique music festival. Do you agree?
This will be our first Blacken. The location, the line-up and the vibe so far is unlike any other festival that we have played at before. We’ve heard the stories. And we are pretty damn stoked that we have been invited along.
Who are you most looking forward to playing with and why?
Can not wait to see South East Desert Metal on home turf! And super excited to catch up with our old mate Brant Bjork and Mario and Sean. And Blood Duster, Battlesnake, Earthless – Are you kidding me?? Bring it on!!
It’s a long day of music. What will you be doing to make sure you will still be standing come your set time?
Planning on a brief hibernation over the next couple of weeks to get some ZZZ’s in the sleep bank.
Give me your Top 3 Festival survival tips.
Go in hard, Carrot annihilation, Locate the burrow.
Which band – other than yourself – do you think will get up to the most mischief on the day?
What song do you think the crowd would want you to play to finish your set?
Woolly Mammoth On A Motorcycle.
What song are you going to play?
A Chicken Is Not A Fruit.
What one song would you tell festival goers to listen to of yours if they haven’t heard you play before?
We Know How To Party.
Finally, what plans does your band have for the rest of 2025?
We have a run of shows throughout Oct and will be hitting The Long Sunset festival in early November. Then it’s Christmas Carols time.
