Stay Gold Battle Of The Bands - Heat 6

Our final regular heat for the Stay Gold Battle Of The Bands is upon us already!

Our Final Regular heat for the Stay Gold Battle of the Bands of 2026 is upon us! We have a great lineup including ALTAV, XANDRI, Earth Cadet, Moss Dealer + Babchia
 

XANDRI

From Naarm (Melbourne, Australia), XANDRI is your next pop Princess.

At just 21, the queer singer-songwriter is already carving out a reputation for transforming raw, personal experiences into songs that connect deeply with listeners. Having left home young and defied expectations, their music reflects both the weight of loss and the strength of self-determination, always anchored by honest, vulnerable lyricism.

ALTAV

'ALTAV is a 5-piece alt rock outfit that is defined by their blend of punchy riffs, lush vocals and catchy hooks. The band is delighted to return to the stage at Stay Gold after having their debut single launch there almost a year ago, releasing their first single 'PANIC ATTACK', an up-tempo rock track introducing the band's distinct heavy sound blending with layered vocal harmonies. Since then, the band has released their second single 'Lace', a sharp turn into a more vulnerable and delicate sound, and now releasing 'Sirens' at the end of March, balancing the intimacy and the raw driving sounds of their previous two tracks.'

EARTH CADET

Earth Cadet is an Australian Alt-Rock act out of Bendigo/Djaara Victoria. The trio blend grunge, shoegaze, post-hardcore and emo into a potent blend of killer rock songs, filled with anthemic hooks and jagged riffs. Their 2025 debut album EXIT WOUNDS has drawn rave reviews, radio play and international playlist spots. Fresh off their DIY national tour their energetic live shows are growing them a fervent following. Quickly racking up over 70,000 streams on Spotify - their single ‘Meteors’ off 2024 EP ‘Tales From The End’ made its way onto Spotify's prestigious All New Rock playlist in June 2024, picked as one of Spotify's favourite 40 rock tracks released in the world that week. Their recently finished October DIY national tour in support of EXIT WOUNDS packed out rooms in Canberra, Wollongong, Sydney, Geelong, Melbourne and Bendigo.

MOSS DEALER

Fusing sounds of King Gizzard, Hum and Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, Moss Dealer debut their blend of psychedelic and alternative rock at Stay Gold!.

BABCHIA

babchia (“BAHB-cha”)

is made up of 5 musicians hailing from a variety of influences; together we're a loud alternative rock, grunge outfit, performing raw, riff driven tunes. we write, record and produce all our own work here in narrm and have since we started as a band in 2025. our debut single ‘porcelain’ and its subsequent performances are a testament to the high energy, evocative and analog production we have to offer. we have so much more to give with more original work on the way.