Ironstone in line for spot on line-up on Melbourne's Uncaged festival

The metal band is one of seven bands shortlisted from 100 entries to play at the Uncaged festival alongside bands including Wolfmother, Killing Heidi and You Am I.

Lead guitarist Ed Warren said the gig would mean a lot to the band after a challenging two years.

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"It's the perfect opportunity to put ourselves up in front of influential people in the industry," he said. "People who are interested in courting talent and it's an opportunity to play with some high profile bands.

"As much as the quality of our music and art we release is important, it can go unappreciated, so this is a golden opportunity to present what we have done.

"We have been laying pretty low for obvious reasons, but it gave us a chance to assess where we want to go, write songs and get things ready.

"When you're constantly playing and gigging, you get caught in the hamster wheel and it is hard to progress. So it was nice to ground the band, write and prepare for when we (could get back to live shows)."

Drummer Jackson Whyte said the band had started gigging again from late last year and have released their new single Shiny Things this week.

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"The restrictions were up and down and we were trying to do as much as we can to promote stuff," he said.

"When we were in hard lockdown 18 months ago, no one could get out. We couldn't even see each other rehearse, everything was remote. Ed does all the writing but we couldn't get together to work on new songs.

"Before COVID we had finished filming a music video, so we had that to put out and once restrictions eased we got back together."

Ironstone is the only regional band to be shortlisted for the Uncaged slot. Warren said in the last two years the band has been able to grow.

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"It's a really difficult, abstract thing to measure," he said. "The internet has been helpful because people turned to more than ever in the last couple of years.

"We have seen our numbers climb. It's didn't feel like we were getting bigger because we didn't have shows to get feedback on. Our last single Mr Struggle had 7500 views so we are definitely growing."

Whyte said he is hoping the region's music fans will get behind the band.

"I spent most day putting posters around Bendigo and have posted to a bunch of Facebook groups," he said. "This is definitely one of the first festivals back since COVID. It's a new festival too, with Wolfmother as a headliner which is awesome."

To vote for Ironstone to play at Uncage in Melbourne on March 12 click here.

For more details on Ironstone visit https://ironstoneband.com

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