Bleak Squad continue the surge behind their debut album Strange Love, announcing additional Australian tour dates as the supergroup prepares for a headline run, festival appearances and a support slot with Pulp.
by Paul Cashmere
Bleak Squad, the Melbourne collective bringing together some of Australia’s most respected alternative musicians, have expanded their live schedule following a strong year surrounding the release of their debut album Strange Love. The band will play their first Sydney headline performance tonight at The Factory Theatre, before heading into a busy period of touring and festival appearances across Australia.
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The group, featuring Adalita of Magic Dirt, Mick Harvey of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and The Birthday Party, Mick Turner of Dirty Three and Mess Esque, and Marty Brown of Art Of Fighting, has quickly built attention around its stark, atmospheric sound and the pedigree of the musicians involved.
Their debut album Strange Love arrived during 2025 and immediately placed Bleak Squad on the radar of critics and audiences alike, earning a nomination for the Australian Music Prize. The recognition confirmed what many fans suspected when the lineup was first revealed, that the band was far more than a casual collaboration.
In early 2026 the momentum has continued with the release of the single Black & White, while the band has also been preparing for a series of high-profile live appearances. Among those is a support slot on the upcoming Australian tour for British icons Pulp, along with festival appearances including Golden Plains and Riverboats.
The additional dates announced this week will see Bleak Squad extend their Australian run into Queensland, Northern New South Wales and South Australia during July and August. The shows follow a rescheduling of earlier performances that were moved when the opportunity arose to join the Pulp tour.
For fans in Adelaide the new announcement is particularly significant, marking the first time Bleak Squad will perform in the city when they appear at The Gov on August 2. That show follows a run through Brisbane, Eumundi and Murwillumbah in the preceding days.
The chemistry between the four musicians has become a defining feature of the project. Each member brings decades of experience from some of the most influential alternative bands in the country.
Adalita first came to prominence in the 1990s as the commanding voice of Magic Dirt, the Geelong group whose albums Friends In Danger, What Are Rock Stars Doing Today and Tough Love helped define Australian alternative rock in that era. After the band slowed its activity in the late 2000s, Adalita established a solo career that highlighted a more intimate songwriting style while maintaining the intensity that made her one of the most distinctive vocalists in Australian music.
Mick Harvey’s career stretches even further back. As a founding member of The Birthday Party alongside Nick Cave, Harvey helped shape one of the most influential post-punk bands to emerge from Australia in the early 1980s. When that group dissolved he co-founded Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, where he remained for more than two decades as guitarist, arranger and producer. Harvey has also developed a celebrated solo career and collaborated widely with artists including PJ Harvey and Crime & The City Solution.
Mick Turner and Marty Brown bring another crucial thread of Australian music history to the group. The pair played together for decades in Dirty Three, the instrumental trio whose violin-driven sound earned international acclaim and helped expand the possibilities of post-rock during the 1990s and 2000s. Turner’s atmospheric guitar work and Brown’s expressive drumming have long been regarded as one of the most intuitive musical partnerships in Australian music.
Within Bleak Squad, those histories converge into something new. The music of Strange Love moves between shadowy rock, slow-burning atmospheres and stark lyrical storytelling. Adalita and Harvey share vocal duties, while Turner’s textured guitar lines and Brown’s fluid percussion shape the emotional contours of the songs.
The band’s live shows have already developed a reputation for their intensity and restraint, focusing on mood and dynamics rather than spectacle. With each member continuing their own creative projects outside the group, Bleak Squad’s performances have the feeling of rare gatherings where decades of musical experience meet in the same room.
That sense of occasion will be felt again tonight in Sydney when the band headlines The Factory Theatre for the first time. From there, the schedule moves quickly toward festival stages and further headline performances later in the year.
Bleak Squad Tour Dates
March 5, Sydney, Factory Theatre
March 8, Meredith, Golden Plains Festival
July 30, Brisbane, Princess Theatre
July 31, Eumundi, Imperial Hotel
August 1, Murwillumbah, The Regent Cinema
August 2, Adelaide, The Gov
Tickets and information are available via feelpresents.com.
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