PREPARE FOR KOOLOOZ AS THEY TURN BLACK PLANET INTO BLOOD MOUNTAIN.
KOOLOOZ- PREPARE FOR KOOLOOZ AS THEY TURN BLACK PLANET INTO BLOOD MOUNTAIN.
The Void, Bendigo Upstairs — 18:00-18:30
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.
PREPARE FOR KOOLOOZ:
The Void's opening slots carry a specific weight — they set the tone for a room that's going to run noise, ambient, drone and experimental acts back to back for the rest of the night. Black Planet putting a proper industrial act in that early slot isn't an afterthought; it's a statement that the Void isn't a warm-up room, it's a destination in its own right, running parallel to the brutality of the Ossuary and the romance of the Black Hearts Lodge rather than beneath either of them.
Artist intro: Koolooz are a Naarm two-piece industrial act built on harsh textures and broken electronic artefacts, their work aimed squarely at humanity's slide toward dystopia — isolation, torment and mental distress rendered in sample-heavy, big-beat industrial noise. Their debut EP, Blood Mountain, follows an unnamed antagonist through pain and paranoia into something closer to rage-as-power, described by the band as brutal but not humourless — the kind of harshness that still finds room for dark comedy in the collapse. Opening the Void puts them first through the door of a room built entirely around pushing sound past the edge of song.
Interview:
1. The Void is framed as a chamber, not a stage — something more enclosed, more about atmosphere than spectacle. How do you think about the difference between playing to a room and playing inside one?
We consider every gig the opening of an aperture, and all manner of emotions spill out into the room, or void. I find that in both playing to a room whilst in one, the spilling out of these emotions can be hindered or heightened by the fortitude and willingness of the sound lord, or soundie. They are the gatekeeper of the room. They hold the power of the space, be they friend or foe.
2. Noise/drone/ambient work often lives or dies on what it does to time — does it stretch, collapse, disappear? What's Koolooz doing to the room, ideally, forty minutes in?
At the 40-minute mark I sincerely hope we have packed down and are in the process of dishing out internal high fives. But ideally we will fit 40 minutes of malaise into the allocated 30 mins. So I guess its more of a stretch and then a disappear.
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?
We still play the majority of the material from our first EP. The song Blood Mountain has certainly influenced the new material. Some of which we will air at Black Planet, although in an instrumental form. Hopefully a single will be released this year. A living cathedral of sound is actually a really good analogy of what I'm getting from the new stuff.
4. This is billed as a celebration of Australian dark music specifically. What does that qualifier — Australian — actually mean to what Koolooz does, if anything? And why does this underground still matter to you, this far in?
Yathi was born overseas, but thankfully calls Naarm his home now. In terms of identifying with a country and culture - we have no control over where we materialise on this tumbling celestial sphere we call Earth. I love this scene. I believe the arts are one of the true cultural movements that I am proud to identify with. Over this year we have been lucky to meet other industrial acts. It's a great community. We all have our impressions of what the world could be like, and what is wrong. It comes out in the art. I love that.
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?
This goes back to the first question. Koolooz are trying to bring something unique into the space. I either leave the stage feeling elated or annoyed. But it's never just a 'non-event.' We go into it with an intention to confound, confuse and inspire. At Black Planet I think we need to intentionally drown out the epic sounds of Knife as they play downstairs at the same time. Sigh.
6. Your brilliant mix of Nitzer Ebb, Skinny Puppy, Gun Club and pretty much every fucking cool Industrial tangent or flavour of said genre, minus the cheese, is unique in a sea of blandness-where do you get the inspiration for this act, because every show is so dynamic and crushing?
Wow!. Thank you! Inspiration doesn't always flow freely from the faucet. But I find it in my job in mental health. I find it when I get too close to the graphic details of the horrors going on in the world. I find it in movies. I've actually found a lot of it by listening to the music of Ollie Olsen's 80's industrial band No recently. I believe Yathi finds it in robots, his white cat Bianko and obscure anime.
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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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