The Second Glorious Birthday of Subculture brewing-a BELATED review and a celebration. Words/Pics-Mark J.

October 22, 2026

The Second Glorious Birthday of Subculture brewing-a BELATED review and a celebration. Words/Pics-Mark J.

Subculture Brewing Company in Brunswick had its glorious 2nd birthday in Sept and it was legendary.

Some breweries make good beer, and then some places become something much bigger than what’s in the glass.

Subculture Brewing is one of those places.

From the moment you walk through the door, you get the feeling that this isn’t just a bar — it’s a genuine community. Owner Luke is one of those rare blokes who seems to have created exactly the kind of place he’d want to hang out in himself: great beer brewed in-house, killer music, an eclectic collection of posters, film and music paraphernalia scattered throughout the bar, and just enough weirdness to give the place its own soul.

Luke is not only the lovely owner, but the glue that holds the place together, and he is the best barman in Melb (and his staff are fucking equally great, it has to be said), but combine that rare, genuine soul with fantastic music taste, and you'll know why this place is so awesome.

And the crowd reflects that.

You’ll see people from all walks of life and all different generations sitting side by side. Regulars, first-timers, musicians, artists, workers, characters, people with completely different stories — somehow everyone fits. There’s no pretence and no sense that you need to be part of some particular scene to belong.

In fact, you can pretty much guarantee that every time you visit Subculture, you’ll meet someone interesting. A musician, an artist, a fellow obsessive, a great storyteller, or simply one of those good humans you’re glad you crossed paths with.

That’s what makes places like this special. And, of course, the beer is bloody magnificent. 🍺

The recent 2nd birthday celebrations, with five killer bands bringing the noise, were an absolutely perfect demonstration of everything Subculture has become — great beer, great music, eclectic people, plenty of laughs and those intangible good vibes that are impossible to manufacture.

Here's a brief review and visuals to document this killer day.

Lineup was: Dead Sunn(changed their damn name post-flyer, of course, being the musical wildmen they are), Autopharge, Lazy Wizard, Hormones and Tench.

A real mixed lollie bag of genres, and all were received with joy.

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Dead Sunn is the remnants of Kev's (of the famous superstar couple Kevin and Chrissie who are frequent barflies to this fine establishment) old band Dead Sun-a noisy, quirky metal/doom/noise beast and the Major of Coburg, Dan "Hotlegs" McKay, is on drums.

This was their first official appearance, and it was all sonic warfare with equal measures of doom, industrial, Zorn kinda metal jazz and more. Add to that samples coming from a dance mat from PS1 or similar, and they soared as the lively opener.

They had a incredible female vocalist assisting them for an incredible cover of ......and some other deadshit(me) assisting them with a Killing Joke classic. Entertaining and more than giving everyone a taste of the diverse music smorgasbord on offer today. Hopefully they will record an EP next year.

and Subculture posted:

"DEAD SUNN. Formerly Dead Sun Rising. Formerly Dead Sun.Christ. These chaps have had so many name changes they'll soon just be a fucking symbol. The artist formerly known as a celestial body. Absolute administrative carnage." lol, Luke with the truth bombs as always!

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I think as far as my liver and brain remember, the mighty Lazy Wizard were up next. Never heard this crew before, but they were amazingly riffy, heavy and exceptionally great at their craft- think instrumental psyched-out stoner doom with throwbacks to all the greats, whilst being original as hell.

Subculture described them like: If you were at our second birthday, you'll remember these three riff-wielding lunatics absolutely tearing the place a new spiritual orifice.Three blokes. Guitar. Bass. Drums. Not a vocalist in sight. Just enormous slabs of instrumental heavy psych, stoner doom, garage rock and funk-metal, all stirred together in a bubbling cauldron of deeply irresponsible musical sorcery.

Like Black Sabbath getting trapped in a lift with a funk band while someone pumps hallucinogens through the ventilation system.They formed in 2025 and released Lunatic Soup this June — five instrumental tracks exploring a fictional dystopian nightmare involving something called Agenda 65+.

Christ knows what that's about. Sounds like a government initiative to make pensioners take mushrooms.

We're supportive. They absolutely RIPPED THE ARSE OUT OF OUR SECOND BIRTHDAY, so naturally we've invited them back before the structural engineers have finished their report.

The skilled trio have obviously done their time in other bands, as they covered tons of ground in the allocated timeslot. One minute a song could be rocking hard as hell, then lovely transitions to wigged-out trippy tangents. Suss out their excellent album Lunatic Soup; bizarre how it ain't getting press, it's a stoner doom classic.

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Following them were the chaotic and lovely yet noisy Autopharge, who Luke described as:

These lot are pleasingly difficult to research. Very little biography. Very little explaining themselves. Just scattered evidence of them repeatedly turning up in Melbourne pubs and making a bloody racket.

They’ve been described around the traps as hard-edged, thought-provoking, dynamic, psychedelic, riff-heavy and danceable. Which is far too many adjectives, so let’s simplify:

Big riffs. Weird bits. Movement. Basically, it sounds like someone’s discovered electricity but hasn’t yet worked out whether it’s a good idea.

I had seen them once or twice before, and they are crafty cats that lull you into that false quiet cool indie world, before pummeling you with thunderous drums and wild riffs and vocals. Very off the chain and energetic, catchy whilst being as calm as a person on a five-day bender. Highly recommended; do they have a release-who knows? The social media output reveals as much as the space between a One Nation supporter's ears. Until any recorded updates, see their Instagram for show updates, because they utterly rip.

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Hormones like the previous acts were a definite highlight, but they cutely broke the riff mould by diving deep into classic melodic punk territory and an ever so slight Ramones love. As Luke stated: Melbourne punk via Aotearoa. Ramones worship. Queer/trans fury.Big hooks. Short songs. Bad influence.

Hot For Hormones.“Transgender Menace.”“I Wanna Be Your Herfriend.”

Fast. Catchy. Political. Slightly feral.

Catchy songs, crowd involvement encouraged, and if you remotely dig any old melodic punk anthems-this is your band. Every track was an absolute anthem; the band are wicked musos and the energy they put out is so wild.

They can be funny as fuck and then, at the next moment, raise important issues like sexual identity/trans rights, etc. Their album, Hot for Hormones is excellent; grab a copy-summer soundtrack by a fucking mile.

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Now, the mighty band that the mayor of Coburg, Sir Dan McKay cannot talk enough about: Tench, I finally got to see them live, and I mean their debut album (Mind Bait) is a total rager, but live-everything was rawer, more raucous and fiercer. Top blokes and this band has all the gritty tracks from start to end-noise rock with more than a nod to post hardcore/D.C. Hardcore in general.

Equally, it is proper post-punk unlike the generic type that is suffocating Melbourne; their portfolio is straight angular, rough and rocking tunes. A theme I constantly flip back to is why solid bands like this aren't getting all the hype, when such average bands are promoted and constantly hailed as the new wave of a genre. Stop fucking about and go see these legends.

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Two years in, Subculture Brewing has clearly become much more than a brewery.

It’s a meeting place.

A music lover’s refuge.

A little slice of community.

A place where you can wander in for a beer and somehow end up having a conversation with someone you’ve never met about music, art, life or whatever else comes up.