Adalita on Magic Dirt and Spring Loaded Festival
During the mid to late 90, Magic Dirt owned the Australian alternative rock scene. On Saturday, June 3 at the 2023 edition of Spring Loaded Festival, Magic Dirt will take the stage along with their musical contemporaries to show the crowd the reason why the 90s is still considered the greatest decade for Australian music.
“We just got invited to do it, and of course we said yes! It’s like a little big day out – the OZ NZ edition!” says Adalita Srsen, Magic Dirt’s iconic frontwoman ahead of the latest instalment of the festival. “We’ve been doing the Spring Loaded circuit for a little while now, and it’s been unreal. The promoter who runs it is such a good guy, and he really loves his music which is why he’s brought all these bands together. It’s such a well-run festival with a great vibe, and we just have such a great time!”
Spring Loaded 2023 will feature Magic Dirt alongside Frenzal Rhomb, Shihad, Eskimo Joe, Ratcat, Screamfeeder, and headliners Spiderbait, hosted at Bribie Island’s Sandstone Point Hotel.
“Ratcat!” laughs Adalita. “It’s just so exciting, I can’t wait to see them, I’m such a huge fan. I think for most of us who are on the bill, Ratcat were the generation before, slightly, and they were kind of the Godfathers behind that indie push that happened; the rise of indie and alternative in Australia – they were at the helm. They’re kind of like the Nirvana of Australia, and That Ain’t Bad is like the Smells Like Teen Spirit of Australia. That song is incredible, and the That Tingles EP, when it came out, just blew my mind.”
Bribie Island is one of those places that you either know well, or have never heard of, but Adalita has a special memory of Bribie from 2001, as she explains “Magic dirt actually did a record cover on Bribie Island! We came up with this idea to set up all of our gear, like, our amps, drum kit, and all of our stuff is just set up on the sand. It’s the cover of our Pace It CD single, so we’ve got a kind of connection with the place, it’s going to be unreal!”
The entire festival lineup is comprised of 90s alternative staples, many of whom are still creating amazing music, but surely the dynamic has changed since the glory days? “We all just rock up wearing the same thing we all wore in the 90s” she chuckles. Jeans, Connies, band shirts, but we’re all a bit wiser, with a little more experience in the world. We’re just the same kids you know, but fuck, the world’s just gone crazy! Being on the Spring Loaded Festival, and just being all together feels in a way just like the old times; kind of like time stands still, everyone’s just letting their hair down, and the bonding is so great, between the bands and the punters, we’re all just one big happy family to be all together. Especially now that the world is gone nuts it’s really important, and awesome, to have that feeling, when you’re all together and you feel bonded and you feel safe.”
With heavy riffs, raw lyrics, and the incomparable Adalita leading the charge, they were quite simply unstoppable. But why now? Why have Adalita and the rest of the Dirt decided to plug in and hit the road again after stopping abruptly over a decade ago? “Well, our bass player passed away in 2009, and after that we just stopped. Right up until 2018 we hadn’t done anything; hadn’t gone on the road, or made any new music, everything just stopped. When we came back in 2018 it was kind of by accident – we did a private party for a very good mate, actually the Godfather of Geelong rock, his name is Greg Dodds. He ran the Barwon club, which is a rock institution. He was retiring, and we were the secret band at this function, to surprise him.” At this point a kind of excited grin makes its way across her face. “Everything kind of snowballed from there, and then it was just like “we’re back now” like it just happened, organically. Since 2018 we’ve been doing a lot of great festivals, and we just finished our own headline tour. We’ve also been putting out re-issues of our back catalogue on vinyl.”
So is this just an act of convenience, or are Magic Dirt back for good? “We’ve definitely got plans” Adalita says passionately. “We’ve got BIG plans – big, big plans, that I can’t go into right now, but watch this Rock ‘n Roll space! There’s going to be lots coming up soon.”
Catch Magic Dirt, Spiderbait, and many more at Spring Loaded 2023, June 3rd at Sandstone Point Hotel.
