INAUGURAL-"to be friends with my monsters, not to fear them" -blindingly sharp and emotive darkwave-
INAUGURAL
AS PART OF:
BLACK PLANET
25TH JULY TWO VENUES THREE STAGES 21 BANDS
O come, creatures of the night!
Bear witness to BLACK PLANET: A Celebration of Australian Dark Music.
Descending for the first time as a full-spectrum gathering of darkness, Black Planet hosts 3 stages across two iconic venues: The Bendigo Hotel & Nighthawks. Built for devotees of sonic extremity and shadow culture, this inaugural edition transforms the night into a living cathedral of sound, atmosphere, and chaos.
The night will be separated into 3 spaces:
The Ossuary (Bendi Main Room) - A shrine to brutality and all things heavy
The Void (Bendi Upstairs) - A chamber devoted to noise, ambient, drone and experimental
The Black Hearts Lodge (Nighthawks) - A sanctuary of goth, darkwave, post-punk and nocturnal romance
Headlining Black Planet 2026 is THE AMENTA - One of metal's most uncategorizable acts, THE AMENTA have been synthesising the ugliest aspects of death, black, and noise into a unique maelstrom for over 25 years. Well-known across the world for their intense live shows, THE AMENTA combine speed, anger, and a weird sound with smoke and strobes to create a brutal, overwhelming experience.
Joining them across the 3 stages are: Mammon’s Throne, Hybrid Nightmares, Victoria K, Küntsquäd, Bentham’s Head, Knife, Npcede, Živa, Inaugural, Chiffon Magnifique, Blood In The Champagne, Dystropolis, Palliative, Blood of a Pomegranate, Military Position, Anocht, AnnaBortionist, Serene Ailment, Angellis Taliuu, and Koolooz.
Black Planet's billing itself as a celebration of Australian dark music, not just Melbourne dark music, and the lineup backs that up — acts travelling in from interstate to share stages with the local scene rather than the night being a purely parochial affair. That's worth noting on a bill this size: twenty-one acts, three rooms, and the ambition to speak for a national scene rather than just a local one.
INAUGURAL are a Sydney duo — Phillip Spiteri and Alice Amsel — whose incredible 2026 EP Stone Tapes Vol. 1 takes its name from the "stone tape theory," the idea that traumatic events can imprint themselves onto places and replay over time. Musically, the pair range wide: 80s and 90s goth and post-punk as a base, with detours into bardcore, EDM club sounds, and even Playboi Carti and Enya turning up as stated influences.
Thematically, they're just as unruly — songs pulling from regional NSW addiction, shopping-centre security theatre, and a title track originally called "Nightclub Suicide," written deliberately unplayable on radio as a rejection of algorithmic, AI-adjacent music culture. A genuinely restless, story-driven project for the Lodge's early evening slot.
INTERVIEW:
1. "Nocturnal romance" is a specific phrase to be filed under — darkness as seduction and ritual rather than pure aggression. Where does Inaugural sit in that, and where do you push against it?
The romanticising of the dark is something that allured us into the goth world initially. It was a gateway where one could see their demons, fears and all things that are considered ‘other’ or taboo as kin and not the enemy!
That sentiment of seeing the beauty in something the status quo won’t, echoes soncially into our music and is also mirrors our life experiences. I think I would very much rather share my dunkaroos with the weird kid at the quadrangle in high school, not bully them (If I’m being honest, I probably was the weird kid).
It has always been a belief of mine to be friends with my monsters, not to fear them – easier said than done, of course.
2. Post-punk and darkwave carry a lot of inherited iconography at this point — is that a language Inaugural is consciously working inside, or something you're trying to strip back to zero?
And what a legacy! We’re very lucky we have such an amazing family tree to draw upon, as well as current musicians in that ballpark working alongside us in this timeline currently. The thing is, there is so much experimentation, nuance and variables that come out of these genres, so we’re on the side of stretching those limits or sit adjacently from them too. Or go completely off that script.
It is important to us to inherit and glean what we feel instinctively fits with us, but we very much strive to create our own take - otherwise why bother, right? We’re not trying to re-invent the wheel because it’s been done to perfection by those before us. We’re gonna try and re-invent a new shape, or a hybrid new shape! More fun and exciting. Even if there are hiccups and failed experiments.
3. Black Planet's being pitched as a "living cathedral of sound" — where does your most recent release, or whatever's next in the pipe, sit inside that? Anything dropping around the show we should know about first?
That’s a lovely description. I love that music being that powerful; it encapsulates you in an invisible space. We do our best to emulate a safe space in our gigs. It’s really important to us.
Coming from working class background (sometimes in both our lives dipping below the poverty line) and me being a woman of colour too – I want this invisible sacred space, this glass cathedral - be a place where everyone from all walks of life has a seat at our table.
So, I guess what I am trying to say is no bellend behaviour is welcome! And hopefully, at least, in the small amount of time we play for you, you feel seen and heard. And most importantly, no matter how big or small your voice – you matter.
4. This is billed as a celebration of Australian dark music specifically. What does that qualifier — Australian — actually mean to what Inaugural does, if anything? And why does this underground still matter to you, this far in?
Australian music is actually fucking awesome. We have so many older and newer music makers in countless genres creating phenomenal music. The problem has always been the gatekeepers that bring this to a wider audience. This is why the underground matters.
It’s an organic way for a band or musician getting love and hype, free from the industry, nepotism, kids with rich parents or weird psy-op PR tactics that were bought. And there is a lot of that all around the world, of course, not just here. But that’s why the independent and underground community is so important. It’s where authenticity and organic growth lie.
Circling back to Australian music – a unique Australian voice is not only amazing when done right but again, important. With a unique Australian voice - be it in the goth scene or elsewhere – it is quite interesting; it’s something different. We create, live, experience, love, and swear in our own unique way. We feel kinship when we hear this played back to us. That “oh man I get it’ feeling.
5. Bendigo and Nighthawks are two venues, three rooms, one night. What are you actually trying to do to a room when you play it — what's the physical or psychic effect you're chasing?
For us, it doesn’t matter how many people we play to, whether it’s 3 people absolutely hating it to 100 people genuinely enjoying it. There is something infectious in the way seeing a performer just living for it on stage. It’s all we ever want to do – being working musicians so we feel the most ‘us’ on stage. We’re happy to bring you our glass cathedral to a stadium or to a toilet cubicle.
Hopefully us being in the moment can convey our emotion, intensity and gallows humour across. I am a terrible dancer; I will spare the world from that.
6. Stone Tapes Vol. 1 is an endless and glorious release that equally brings the vibe of a 2am dancefloor in a seedy goth or hard techno event in a warehouse, but as well as being aggressive as hell-the groove is so solid and the structure and skill are so intelligent and sharp, how the hell do you create such gems...???
Thank you so much! It’s the mental illness and trauma!
LINKS:
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SO GRAB A TICKET ASAP AND START WORKING OUT HOW YOU CAN SEE EVERY BAND...SOMEHOW
KILLER PRICES TO BE HONEST;
Both venues: $75+BF
The Bendigo Hotel Only: $45+BF
Nighthawks Only: $35+BF
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