The Angels turn up the volume for Townsville's Sounds of Rock festival
Finding new life through a father-sons line-up, Australia's longest-running rock band The Angels will cram five decades of classics into their set at Townsville's Sounds of Rock festival. See who else is playing.
Thanks to generational renewal, Australia’s longest-running rock band The Angels is not slowing down, with ambitious plans to cram 50 years worth of classics into their 50 minute set at Townsville’s upcoming Sounds of Rock festival.
Promising to be bigger and louder than ever when it returns to the Townsville Turf Club (Cluden Park) on September 13, Sounds of Rock is an all day event that provides high quality live music from legendary Australian musicians and iconic song writers.
Alongside The Angels, other Australian rock legends to hit the stage will include the Hoodoo Gurus, Daryl Braithwaite, The Angels, Mark Seymour, Chocolate Starfish, The Radiators, Bachelor Girl, and Taxiride.
Formed in 1974, The Angels’ “punk boogie” pub rock sound was built around legendary frontman Bernard “Doc” Neeson and guitarist brothers John and Rick Brewster.
Over the decades, the band built a reputation as a live music powerhouse, propelled by an impressive discography of hits like Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again, Take a Long Line, We Gotta Get out of This Place, and Let The Night Roll On.
Despite Doc’s tragic death in 2014 and numerous line up changes, the band still has the fire in the belly, thanks to the recruitment of John’s sons Sam on bass and Tom on drums, while honorary Brewster, Nick Norton, switched from drums to vocals in 2023.
Speaking from chilly Adelaide, The Angels bass player for the past 13 years, Sam Brewster, couldn’t wait to bask in the warmth of North Queensland and check out some of the sights, including a trip to the top of Castle Hill, during his first visit to Townsville.
“We’ll be playing all the hits from early days from the 1970s through to now, and we might sneak a cheeky new one in … from our new album which came out last year called 99,” Sam said.
“We’ve been playing a few of the tracks off it at shows and they were very well received.”
The bassist lamented the lack of younger rock bands coming through to take up the torch.
“When you look at rock music, particularly in the last 20 years, there hasn’t been another stable of rock bands that have come and replaced these classic 1970s to 1990s bands … that have hit the mainstream in the same way,” he said.
“(There used to be) a bit more infrastructure in the industry. These days it just seems like there’s not that kind of mentorship or support.”
Sam urged NQ’s classic rock fans not to miss out on the “great line-up”.
“From the communication I’ve had with the festival organiser and the production crew, it’s going to be a great production. I think it’s going to rock.”
For more information, visit: soundsofrockfestival.com.au.
Sounds of Rock Townsville
Where: Townsville Turf Club (Cluden Park)
When: Saturday, September 13.
Tickets: www.oztix.com.au.
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Originally published as The Angels turn up the volume for Townsville's Sounds of Rock festival
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