Musicians from regional towns across the state are preparing for an epic battle of the bands, hosted by local breweries and organised by the Adelaide Beer & BBQ Festival team.

Adelaide Beer & BBQ Festival is packing up and hitting the road once again this year, in search of regional bands to join its music lineup.

Untapped is Beer & BBQ’s state-wide battle of the bands competition, and will consist of four heats in four regional towns.

The heats will happen at regional breweries on a series of consecutive Saturdays: Shifty Lizard Brewing in McLaren Vale on 20 May, Little Rippa Brewing in Mount Gambier on 27 May, Watsacowie Brewing Co in Minlaton on 3 June and Woolshed Brewery in Mutho on 10 June.

One band from each location will be put up in Adelaide a month later for the culminating region vs. region showdown, which will happen at the Beer & BBQ Festival’s Saturday night event, on 15 July.

The winner will be crowned that night, with the successful band taking home $1000 for their troubles.

“We’re really well supported by the regional breweries in South Australia. It’s sort of a way to give back to them and we can go out to the regions and throw a party for them,” says Beer 7 BBQ co-founder Gareth Lewis.

Gareth says he and the festival team wanted to “see if we can untap some of the local talent in the regions and bring them back into the city. It was to support those breweries that supported us originally and now it’s turned into something bigger”.

Minlaton hotspot Watsacowie Brewie

Watsacowie on the Yorke Peninsula often hosts live music, and co-owner Roxanne Phasey says it’s a great opportunity for artists in her region.

“It gives small backyard bands who go, ‘How do we get a little voice out there in larger communities?’ a great opportunity and we are just so supportive of it. Not only is it a great experience, but it’s great exposure as well,” she says.

“They’ve all got a connection to the Yorke Peninsula, which is just sensational. So they either they grew up over here, their family lives here, whether it be farm, whether it be just lifestyle, it’s really celebrating those original roots.”

Roxanne hopes Beer & BBQ’s wide-ranging search for regional musical talent will continue beyond 2023.

“I hope that if this becomes an ongoing thing,” Roxanne says. “Whether or not it happens on Yorkes again or happens somewhere else, [that] we can then cross promote that in other regions as well.”

Details on the rest of Beer & BBQ 2023’s music lineup have already been released, and if you like guitars you’re in for a very good time.

The event will feature the likes of The Living End, Magic Dirt, Henry Wagons, Katy Steele and Dune Rats.

Locals on the lineup include DEM MOB, Street Legal, Stiff Necks, Juliette Seizure & the Tremor-Dolls, Lily Rose and Loose Units.

For more information on the Beer & BBQ Festival and its Untapped battle of the bands comp, visit the website.