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Who will be crowned winner of Dept of Rock 2025? Who will have the most fun along the way?! These big questions and many more will be answered when Dept of Rock returns to Smith’s Alternative for the 2025 Public Service Battle of the Bands Competition. Come cheer on cool public servant rockstars as they ditch their laptops and lanyards for guitars, drumsticks and mics in the ultimate battle for rock supremacy. This year we’ll also be entertained by some very special guest bands and Madam Secretary musings, games and giveaways.
Grab a ticket and join in the fun of this quintessentially Canberra live music event!
Heat 1 Rockstars
The Pretty Bones
The Pretty Bones was formed from the ambitions of Wayne and
Chris to create an outlet for their original music. They had been
performing together for many years in covers bands but wanted to do something original. Jock and Karl had been the rhythm section of another covers band for many years - after hearing Wayne and Chris' demo recording, they were fully committed to the Pretty Bones. The four band members now bring their different writing styles and influences together to form a strong and varied song list, centred around the 1990s rock scene.
ECHO!
Post-punk with a melodic twist, ECHO! is here to get you on your feed and have a boogie! We use the power of music to share our stories and highlight the neurodivergent experience.
The Tremorz
A psychobilly surf duo tearing up the stage with just drums, guitar, and a screaming theremin. Dressed sharp and playing dirty, they bring the raw chaos of garage rock colliding with the eerie swagger of classic B-movies. Their live shows ooze dive-bar energy — surf riffs crash into pounding beats, while monster-movie vibes turn every song into a wild ride. Tracks like Bloodshot Moon, Ode to Earl, and Surf Zombies from Outer Space have already carved their place as fan favourites, each carrying the unpolished edge that defines their sound. The Tremorz don’t chase perfection — they chase the kind of reckless, sweaty rock ’n’ roll that leaves you buzzing long after the amps power down. If you want distortion, danger, and a set that feels like a midnight horror flick come to life, this is your show. Come for the riffs. Stay for the tremors.
Link tree: https://hyperfollow.com/thetremorz
Insta: https://www.instagram.com/mrdougalicious/
Dumpster Fires
Hard working and hard rocking high school teachers, the Dumpster Fires used to subject only their students to unpolished covers…until they set the Dept of Rock on fire in 2024! The Dumpster Fires are back in 2025 to teach us all an important lesson – public school teachers rock!
Phoenix Bureau
Born from the ashes of committee meetings and resurrected in the break room with a borrowed guitar and a whiteboard marker, Phoenix Bureau is the only band where every member has a security clearance and a strong opinion on procurement reform.
Made up of government officials who moonlight as genre-fluid musical renegades, Phoenix Bureau blends rock, punk, metal and memos to deliver biting satire on everything from budget estimates to interdepartmental committees. Their lyrics are as sharp as a Senate Estimates hearing and twice as catchy.
Whether it's their hit single "Out of Office" or the crowd-favourite "Make a decision", Phoenix Bureau proves the bureaucracy can groove. Their live shows feature mandatory attendance forms, optional policy briefings, and a regulated amount of cowbell. Phoenix Bureau is making governance sound good.
Special Guests: The Shiny Bum Singers!
The Dept of Rock is stoked to have the pioneers of public service musical satire, The Shiny Bum Singers, as our guest band in Heat 1 of 2025 Battle of the Bands.
The Shiny Bum Singers were first created to perform at the National Folk Festival in Canberra in 1999 and they’ve been performing to packed audiences ever since. They sometimes stray into political satire, and other life experiences such as rugby and visiting the dentist.
The Shiny Bums sing parodies and encourage audience participation by projecting the choruses for singalongs. They have over 300 songs in their repertoire from versatile writers in the group - from fire drills to audits, system crashes to ministerial interference and even office romances, no subject in the workplace is safe – nor any song!
https://shinybumsingers.com/
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Smith's Alternative, 78 Alinga St, City ACT 2601, Australia, Canberra
Tickets
