So, the fine fellas at Rum Jungle have a message for the people of America: keep supporting Australian bands.
This is the second trip stateside for the four-piece from Newcastle, New South Wales (a laid-back, industrial-chic coastal town with gritty maritime heritage and a booming surf culture).
Their debut album, Recency Bias, arrived in February 2025 with layers of surf rock and psych guitars over relaxed grooves and pop melodies. “Chargers and chillers,” as they call them. Think of like, Australian coastal groove rock, built for an afternoon set in a park. Check out their Triple J Like a Version of Rihanna’s Stay, it’s a blast.
Their first trip to America was a quick in-and-out last summer; six shows in ten days. This tour runs 19 dates, mostly small clubs plus a couple of festivals. Quote of the week, from lead guitarist Josh Giles:
“I would shit my dacks if you told me that I’d be sharing a lineup with LCD Soundsystem, Wu-Tang Clan, Gorillaz. Like, what a fucking, this is definitely like the best lineup we have ever been on.”
I don’t know what dacks are but that’s hilarious.
Growing up in Australia, drummer Frazer McDonald said, “…you look outward for cool, to New York, to Stereolab, to a bit of Berlin club and some New York underground, partly to avoid sounding like an Australian band. Then you arrive in America and discover that people love you because your Australian. That almost gives you permission to be confident about it.”
McDonald went on to call Pond (not playing Shaky, but a favorite of mine too) “easily Australia’s best band,” before waxing poetic about Mink Mussel Creek’s “They Dated Steadily.” Elite ball knowledge on that drummer. Give Rum Jungle a spin.
Rehash was hard to pin down, in a good way. Listening notes range across shoegaze, emo, and grunge, with heavy guitars, soaring passages, indie jangle, and a dash of Alice in Chains. They are soooo young. Babies. But heading places.
Geordie Greep was next; the former lead singer of Black Midi who now, has his own solo project. It was, as one would expect from the defacto leader of the Windmill scene, experimental and noisy. Lots of wild time signature jams that swerve in and out of danceability. Big pit. Tons of crowd surfing. At one point a large hawk swooped low over the stage and then the crowd, and the audience went nuts. It was madness, the whole thing.
Psychedelic Porn Crumpets deserve a specific kind of credit. They played a sold-out Friday late-night show at the Earl. And then when Jimmy Eat World dropped out (detached retina), PPC agreed to pick up their set time for a second festival hour. That meant three sets in two days. Very few bands have the catalog to do that. Thanks for stepping up to an ad-hoc SK residency!
Blood Orange and Taking Back Sunday were sounding excellent when their sets were cut off, just before 7 p.m. Organizers posted that severe weather was in the area and they were evacuating the park.
And then the storm hit. I think everyone who was at Shaky Knees will have a story to tell forever.
I saw people hiding in porta-potties, ferocious and torrential lightning strikes, people taking cover underneath semi trucks, ankle deep gutter water flowing wildly, people smoking fatties in a Piedmont Park rotunda with not a care in the world, fellow media members forced to wheel countless thousands of dollars of equipment out into the raging lightning storm despite desperate pleas to ride out the worst of the storm from the safety of the media tent, police in the street screaming at people, Twenty One Pilots kiddies experiencing the seven stages of grief, a mad rush for any semblance of shelter, and then, the silence.
No one knew whether the festival was cancelled or just on hold in the intervening two-hour gap between the evacuation notice and the word that the park would indeed reopen for Twenty One Pilots. Shit, I had already left myself, having heard from the security staff that the remainder of the day was cancelled. It was a bit chaotic and I don’t think anyone knew exactly what was going on until a text announced the headliner was coming on after all.
In the end, Pierce the Veil, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets (set 3), The Prodigy and Pavement were all cancelled for the evening.
Shout out to the Twenty One Pilots fans who lined up at 6 a.m. for gates that opened near noon, only to lose their rail spots in the evacuation. RIP. At least the ones who waited it out got the band they came for, even if in a shortened set.
This would normally be where we wrap up a Saturday review. But then we wouldn’t talk about the other contender for the best set of the weekend; the hardest ticket to get in Atlanta this weekend, Fcukers at Terminal West late night.
When Shaky Knees announced the slate of late night shows for 2026, several shows insta-sold-out. Like blink and they’re gone sell outs. One set was the Psychedellic Porn Crumpets at The Earl on Friday night (rad). The other was Fcukers‘ late-night show at Terminal West Saturday night (also rad).
So, we were anticipating this set for days in the lead up to Shaky 26. I’ve been a fan of tracks like “if you wanna party, come over to my house” and “Bon Bon” for a while now. And I really liked the deeper cuts I’d heard too.
At the same time, Terminal West is a hard room to ignite. The ceilings are high, there’s an upstairs, an outside smoking area, the merch room is huge and empty, and the whole venue can feel a little cavernous in a way that even a larger room like Variety Playhouse rarely does. I’ve seen good bands fail to fully electrify the space. It’s a tough room to melt, in my opinion.
But let me tell you, that shit was lava. In fact, I’d say Fcukers late night set was the most lit I have ever seen Terminal West. After the opener did whatever that thing was (whole ‘nother story, lol) the crowd continued to swell bigger and buzzier, until it was filled to the brim and ready to pop.
And the people! The people were all so cool, it seemed like a very in the know, very hip, very beautiful crowd. Vibes: immaculate.
The band went on at 1 a.m., played for an hour, and crushed from front to back. Just a dance party like we were at old MJQ, with some acid jazz, some indie sleaze, a little trip hop and a dash of 90’s pop in the mix.
If Gwen Stefani and Rhian Teasdale adopted a girl in Brooklyn and raised her on white monsters, espresso martinis and bootleg mixtapes smuggled out of Berghain, you might get Shanny Wise.
Fcukers are a good time.
Check out more photos below from Shaky Knees 2026 Day 2. All photos by Mike Gerry Full photo galleries to come.
