Kram Chats Spring Loaded Festival 2023 edition
With June right around the corner, there’s little time to spare before Spring Loaded Festival arrives to take us back into the musical chasm that was the 90s with a line-up featuring Spiderbait, Eskimo Joe, RATCAT, Shihad, Frenzal Rhomb, Magic Dirt, Bodyjar, and Screamfeeder.
Recently we caught up with the incomparable Kram – otherwise known as Mark Maher; drummer and vocalist for festival headliners Spiderbait, as he was enjoying the sunshine from his home in Byron Bay. “We’re really looking forward to it” remarks Maher, “it’s a great spot right there near Bribie Island, and it was such a good crowd last year. I can’t wait!”
In 2022, Spiderbait set out on tour to celebrate the songs performed by their own vocalist and bassist Janet English, with their appropriately titled Sounds in the Key of J tour, after a successful album release of the same name. “That was such an emotional tour”, says Kram. “For everyone, especially Janet, she was in tears every single night, it was very special.”
Needless to say, Kram, Janet, and guitarist Damian Whitty are well oiled and ready to take on the winter chill and light up the stage with their endless list of cult favourites, or maybe even some new songs, when the 2023 edition of Spring Loaded launches June 3rd at The Sandstone Hotel in Brisbane’s north.
While Covid-19 lockdown seems like a lifetime ago, it was in reality a detrimental time for live music, but quite the opposite for songwriting, allowing writers and musicians extended periods of solitude to focus on honing their craft. “I remember, right before we went into lockdown, I had this guitar, I had bought it like a year before, and I had left it at a mate’s place, it was this BC Rich, heavy metal guitar”, laughs Kram. “So we’re about to go into lockdown, and I had to get this guitar, so I hired a car, managed to get my guitar, and made it back across the border just before midnight, and that was all I had for the whole of lockdown, and I wrote a whole bunch of new songs – they’re very riff heavy!”
The promise of new music will see the band’s first release since 2013’s self-titled album. “We’re actually about to start practice for the new album, so yeah, we should have some new music out next year”
Outside of Spiderbait, Kram is musically active as part of Australian supergroup ARC – Australian Rock Collective, alongside Davey Lane (You Am I), Mark Wilson (Jet), and Darren Middleton (Powderfinger). Together they celebrate some of history’s greatest albums by touring around playing these albums to sold out theatres Australia-wide. 2020 Saw ARC take The Beatles’ Abbey Road on tour to celebrate the album’s 50th anniversary, and next month they unveil the highly anticipated series of shows dedicated to Pink Floyd’s seminal masterpiece, Dark Side of the Moon.
Spring Loaded 2023 is happening June 3rd, Get Tickets Here
