US Funk Vets The Fatback Band Name Meredith Headline Sideshow Dates

Venerated funk/disco trailblazers the Fatback Band have expanded their Australian tour plans when they're in the country later this year to perform at December's Meredith Music Festival, it has been announced.

The veteran hitmakers — best-known for dance-centric chart-beaters such as (Are You Ready) Do The Bus Stop and Double Dutch — will play their first-ever headline shows in Australia at Sydney's Oxford Art Factory on Thursday 10 December, heading down to Melbourne to perform at the Corner Hotel on Friday 11 December, ahead of hitting up Meredith the following day, 12 December.

Fatback Band - or just Fatback to their apostles - burst onto the scene in 1970 under the guidance of veteran drummer Bill Curtis, a man on a quest "to invent a new groove by merging the 'fatback' jazz beat of New Orleans with vivid West Indie and Caribbean rhythms, a novel sound that became the basis for the first disco beat".

The band have since navigated 45 years and more than 35 albums of original material, with Curtis having performed with the likes of Jackie Wilson, Marvin Gaye, Earth Wind & Fire, Aretha Franklin and more along the way. They're no strangers to the festival circuit and, with four decades of experience behind them, come with a near-guarantee of performance quality, if history proves to be a reliable measure of expectation. The band will release their next album later this year.

Tickets for Fatback Band's Australian shows are available now. See theGuide or check The Music App for more details, or see our dedicated Meredith page under the Festivals tab.