FEATURE: Push Over Artist Memories

Push Over celebrates its 21st Birthday this Monday when the event makes its way to the Sidney Myer Music Bowl.

Featuring the likes of: The Amity Affliction, DZ Deathrays, Dream On Dreamer, Northlane, Thy Art Is Murder, In Hearts Wake, 12 Foot Ninja, and Hand Of Mercy, this appears the best offering yet.

In the lead-up, Killyourstereo.com features memories from artists that played in previous years.

“The first time I ever played at Pushover I think was about 6 - 7 years ago. It was when the festival was held at Docklands and Silverchair and Bliss n Eso were also playing. It was me and Pez doing a set together as 'Forthwrite'. The day was wild, we hadn’t played many shows before then so any crowd was a good crowd for us. I also entered the MC freestyle competition and did quite well. I specifically remember this day because my belt on my jeans broke right before our set, and back then I used to wear the baggiest shit, anyway a fellow MC "Fubex" was carrying a bag and he gave me his spare belt, I was so grateful. I remember when Daniel Johns arrived at the festival because we were sitting backstage and he got out of his car wearing a suit and then just lay down on the concrete for ages. It was an awesome day, Silverchair and Bliss n Eso were awesome, and we were over the moon because we had like 150 people watching us on one of the small the side stages.”

- 360

“I may well have an entirely unique perspective and experience of the Push Over Festival. I can remember hurriedly buying my ticket for Push Over in 1995 so excited for my mates band called the 'Testeagles' who had finally cracked it onto a major festival. It was an amazing day and I remember it well even now some 17 years on. The years went by and I formed the rock band Antiskeptic, which low and behold somehow ended up on the line-up for Push Over 2004, alongside Sunk Loto, Spiderbait and John Butler Trio. This was an amazing experience for us, which we really enjoyed. The crowd were great, weather perfect and we had a heap of fun on and off stage. In 2006 I was lucky enough to speak for The Push at several events around the state and soon after I successfully applied for the role of the Artist Development Project Coordinator. This was a great experience for me and I developed many skills that I'm sure I will be using for the rest of my life. As part of my role, I coordinated the FReeZA Push Start Battle of the Bands - which enabled many developing bands the opportunity to perform at Push Over. The festival has changed and adapted to the 'modern age', but essentially it remains the same to me - the festival where music is celebrated in a drug-free, alcohol-free and judgement-free environment. Long Live Push Over.”

- Andrew, Antiskeptic

"We all have so many great memories from Pushover festivals. I remember travelling down to Melbourne before I even lived here to attend them when I could, just to see my favourite bands. Even earlier, performing in bands at local Push sponsored "battle of the bands" events hoping for the chance to perform at Pushover. For Behind Crimson Eyes, we always know it's going to be a great show. We don't get to do many under 18 shows anymore so we always jump at the opportunity to play it and interact with our younger fans. The lineup's always solid, it's well organized and ticket prices are low. Hopefully it will be around for another 21 years!"

- Aaron Schultz, Behind Crimson Eyes

“Hi I'm Chris Carty and I played guitar in the band Biscuit. We later changed our name to Anotherrace but during our Pushover days we were known as Biscuit. From memory we played the years '97, '98 & 2000 and had an absolute ball doing it! Getting to share the stage with bands like The Living End, Regurgitator, Something for Kate, Frenzal Rhomb & the Testeagles to name a few was awesome. My personal highlight was the year 1998 at The Sidney Myer Music Bowl, where we shot a film clip for our single '6.9'. We had a film crew come in shoot us doing what we did best. Playing live. The sun was out, the kids went nuts and we loved it! Biscuit/Anotherrace were heavily involved in The Push and played hundreds of all ages gigs all over Australia. We are really glad to see that Pushover has reached its 21st Birthday and can only hope that there are at least another 21 years to come. Pushover was and is still one of the best platforms for young hungry bands to get their music seen and heard.

Happy 21st Pushover!!!

Cheers from Chris, Wesz, Matt & Jake.”

- Chris Carty, Biscuit

“We played pushover festival 2012 and It was huge for us because it kicked off our Australian 'teenage rampage' album tour. Parkway drive were on the line up also and it was MASSIVE. I remember doing a few interviews with the with D! Boys and for one we were interviewed by Ella Hooper from Killing Heidi! She was pretty babin' in the early naughties circa 2001 and was on the front cover of a rolling stone magazine which was part of a stack next to my bed as a teenager. I was star struck and had to play the entire show with a stiffy. I don’t think anyone noticed.”

- Tommy, Dangerous

"Playing PushOver 2011 was amazing, such an huge eclectic line up of talented musicians and performers across 3 stages in front of thousands of eager, responsive and wild punters. This is what all festivals should be like."

- JJ Peters, Deez Nuts

“We always know we are going to have a good time whenever playing a Pushover Show. All the hardworking people that work their always treat us with the utmost respect. Their hard work pays off with an amazing crowd willing to support this amazing local scene we are surrounded by.”

- Dream On, Dreamer

“Three lasting memories...

1. One punter shouting "...play a T-rex song ya poof..." during EVEN

2. Receiving the news of Michael Hunchence dying after rail played Pushover

3. Saying to Coxy from the Fauves after our set....."I just don't know what the kids want these days.."

Coxy then goes on to steal my rant for his onstage banter, genius!!”

- Ashley Naylor, EVEN

"We've been lucky to play at Pushover a couple of times. It is a great festival, well organized and well run.

It's good that there is so much involvement from all kinds of people related to the music scene, and really brings home the feeling of community that live music should have"

- Chris Shaw, House Vs Hurricane

“I played Push Over festival in 2011 and have to say, it was a pretty amazing experience! I wish I knew of it when I was a kid because it's such a good day, the line ups are always excellent, and as a teen there was so few opportunities to see live music. I remember arriving at the Abbotsford convent and being pretty amazed at the numbers in attendance. There were shitloads of kids!! All over the place, getting involved.

It was pretty funny because it was like a big festival, just with an average age about 10 years younger than normal, and with a lot more parents sitting in cars out the front. Haha! The show itself was awesome, I love playing to underage peeps 'cause they do get right into it, and was great meeting a lot of the fans afterwards. Looking forward to playing it again some day *hint*”

- Illy

“Okay so I guess in this pic we're looking at somewhere around '97 give or take but really who knows - we've had the pleasure of playing multiple Pushover spots over the years. Nessie's bum is quite prominent in this composition but not very helpful in narrowing down the date since last time I checked it still looks pretty much the same 15 years on...

Drummers spend a fair bit of time both sitting on their own arses and looking at those of their band mates - that's just the way it is.

Anyway... Kev is adopting an interpretation of the standard rock "ready" pose. You'll notice one foot placed well back for a controlled, well balanced stance which is a perfect platform for upper body maneuvers and transitions well into a range of other favourites such as foot-on-foldback or the half star jump.

Just noticed Ness has a piece of yellow string hanging out of her pocket - backstage pass? Or perhaps just contingency string, always a prudent choice.

Chris is hammering out some bonkers crazy space riff in the background there - in fact judging by his facial expression and finger positioning we're two bars into the chorus of "Teflon" on this occasion. Or possibly a different part of some other song.

I' m not even in this photo which is totally fine but frankly wouldn't seem to indicate I'm the obvious choice to comment on it. How can I be sure I was even there at all, really?

Probably best I avoid a philosophical tangent, but have to finish on a note of congratulations to all the Pushover folks through the years - 21 of 'em is an amazing feat. Here's to many more!”

- Brett, Jebediah

“The Pushover festivals were always such great fun. I remember the 2001 show...little Dylan (our drummers son) got up with his plastic toy guitar and just head banged around and the crowd went mental for him. But you know, the best thing about the Pushover festivals was that it was one of those occasions where we got to play to under 18's. 

We would always try and include all ages shows on our tours and in the early to mid 90's, under 18's shows were much more common than they are now.

But thankfully, Pushover provided such a great opportunity to be able to cater for kids who aren't old enough to enter the pub/venue circuit to see their favourite bands and be exposed to new music too. So good ya Push. We are all so grateful. Happy 21st!”

- Adalita, Magic Dirt

"I've been involved in Pushover on a number of occasions, in a number of different outfits. I've performed there as part of Equills, Illzilla and as a solo artist. I've also judged MC battles there a few times. I've seen it move from Luna Park to the Docklands to the Abbotsford Convent. Through that whole time it has remained a safe, positive festival and a great way for young people to enjoy and discover music. We could use more events like it."

- Mantra

“Money For Rope got to do Pushover 2012 at the Convent and thanks to JJJ Unearthed for choosing them to do the Unearthed slot. The band got a couple of Freeza gigs as a result of being seen at this year's event which is a great result.”

- Money For Rope

“I can tell you that Pushover was the best and still is the best underage festival of its kind. The year Motor Ace did was held at Luna Park and I can remember playing just after our first record came out. It was a pretty magic time with kids going mad and the line-up was with 28 Days who were massive at the time. I do remember finishing our set and jumping over my drum kit and leaping into the crowd. No one was hurt and I think I only just made it so that was kinda fun… at the time! The best thing though was having some time during the day to meet and greet fans who without them Pushover wouldn’t have been so special… so thank you Pushover!”

- Damo, Motorace

"Headlining our stage at Pushover 2012 made me feel on top of the world. We were at the peak of our game, just coming off a big tour and the reaction we got that day was one of the best I've ever had. You can't accurately describe or recreate those moments, they just happen and they are the reason why we do what we do."

- Josh Smith, Northlane

“The Meanies did Pushover a couple of times, confirmed when I was just talking to Pete Chellew about this a couple of weeks ago. It was the very first one at the Exhibition Building in Carlton, I think. TISM, Clouds, Ratcat amongst others also played. The Meanies were the last band on I think, the image of thousands of hands in the air and a lot of screaming going on is etched in my brain. Felt great! Biggest crowd we'd played to up until that point.

The other Pushover that The Meanies did was a rather eventful day at Luna Park. I vaguely recall either Spiderbait or Magic Dirt or maybe even both playing early, then there was a band comp, and then Silverchair played, followed by The Meanies. It was huge as Silverchair were the hottest new band in the land at the time, people were manic & crowds were large. Drummer Ben Gillies was telling me recently that it was the day we all met. I think the 'chair went across the road and did a Gershwin Room gig that same night. Anyway, 3 songs into The Meanies' set and an electrical storm hit, wind was blowing a gale, almost blowing us over, the rain was coming in at us on stage right angles, gig got called off cos it got too dangerous! Luckily we were the last band to play anyway and everyone was knackered and simply dispersed out of the rain, no rioting ensued. Much to our pride's dismay...!”

- Wally Kempton, The Meanies

“Pushover was all about opportunity and empowerment: it gave me the chance to yell obscenities at children.”

- TISM

You can get further details about Push Over 2013 here.