General News
5 September, 2025
UK tour awaits Convict Class
WARRNAMBOOL musicians Convict Class are preparing to embark on a tour of the United Kingdom.
Since returning from their first international tour in August 2024, the local boys are finding themselves in demand.
They have recently been announced to play the 30th anniversary of the Rebellion Punk Music Festival in August 2026.
Rebellion Festival is the longest running and regarded the most prestigious punk festival in the world.
It is held in Blackpool, England which sees 15,000 punk rockers from across the globe descend on this seaside city for a week each year.
Coupled with this, Convict Class is also organising a 10-date tour of the UK which will include London, Bristol, Glasgow and Edinburgh.
“After our tour last year, we were blown away with the support we received and the offers to come back, so it made sense to do it bigger and better next time,” band member Ben Lakey said.
“Some of the highlights of last year’s tour included meeting fans for the first time (after only interacting with them online) and arriving at our shows in another country to see punters wearing our shirts and singing along to all our songs – this was quite humbling.”
Convict Class has also been busy nationally since their return, playing Brisbane, Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast.
“Although we have a great support base overseas and in Melbourne, we haven’t had the opportunity until this year to play some of Australia’s hot spots,” Shane Godfrey said.
“Our interstate gigs have been outstanding, with all gigs attracting excellent numbers.”
In Adelaide earlier this year they played to a sold-out venue and have now decided to make it an annual event.
“We named our show Anarchy in Adelaide and it was so successful we have decided to return next February,” Shane Stenhouse said.
“We plan to grow the event each year and have already secured punk bands from all over Australia to play our event.”
The band’s debut album ‘Generation of Discontent,’ which featured in the ARIA and Australian Independent charts, is set to have a follow up album released in early 2026.
Convict Class has also recently signed with Randale Records in Germany, one of the largest record labels in the punk scene.
The boys have spent a large amount of time this year working on new material for the album and believe it will be better than the first.
So far, they have nine tracks completed but want to have at least 15 to take to the recording studio.
They have also had offers to play in Europe and another festival in the UK this year but have unfortunately had to knock them back.
“We would love to take these opportunities but it’s not a cheap exercise; we do plan to play in Germany for our record label and play some European dates in the future,” Shane said.
