The Rubens front man shares his 'pinch me' moment ahead of Gerringong festival

The five-piece band that formed in Menangle, with some of its members now calling the Illawarra home, are getting ready to play in Gerringong.

The two-day long weekend music event - Winter Wine Festival - is bringing some of the country's best music acts to Crooked River Wines in Gerringong. Icehouse will headline on Saturday, June 8, with The Rubens headlining on Sunday June 9.

Thirroul resident and lead vocals for The Rubens, Sam Margin, sat down with the Mercury ahead of the gig that's part of their Black Balloon Tour.

"If I had to pick one show to play, my last show ever, I'd say a massive festival. They're so much and there's this collective thing, everyone's just having the best day of their lives," he said. "The festival thing is amazing."

As much as the festivals are great Sam and bandmates - Sam's brothers Elliott (who lives in Wollongong) and Zaac, and their friends Scott Baldwin and William Zeglis - are also loving playing the smaller venues on their current regional tour of Queensland.

"That's a whole different experience in itself, it's intimate, the interactions are different," Sam said.

A number one song in the Hottest 100 was pretty cool, so was being the support act for Pink during her 42-date Beautiful Trauma tour around Australia in 2018, and working with music trailblazer Michael Gudinski, but there's another 'pinch me' moment that sticks out for Sam.

It's two-fold, firslty when The Rubens supported Bruce Springsteen on a couple of tours, secondly when the US mega star mentioned The Rubens on stage.

"We'd finished our set and going out to watch him," he said.

"I'm standing with my mum and dad, and him on the microphone thanking us for playing and saying 'The Rubens' on the microphone was pretty crazy."

Saturday, June 8

Sunday, June 9

Tickets are on sale now.

The Rubens latest single, an anti-nostalgia anthem, Black Balloon is a sure thing, so too is their recent hit Liquid Gold which was filmed in Rio de Janeiro.

And, with the band's fifth album due out in a few months, keen fans will hopefully be treated to a new song or two.

The rest of the Gerringong set will be all about high energy.

"We want to craft a set that's high energy, where the majority of the audience will know the songs, we're picking singles," Sam said.

More than one-third of Australian music festivals are losing money as operational costs skyrocket, red tape becomes harder to wade through and people in their late teens and early 20s ditch events.

It costs an average $3.9 million to run a music festival and it's a cost The Rubens knows only too well.

The band created their own festival, ValleyWays, with the February 2024 event to feature Grinspoon, The Rubens, and Ball Park Music, but it was cancelled a few weeks out due to cost of living pressures.

"It's and extremely expensive thing to do. You've got to think about councils, you've got to pay for police, you've got to make sure everyone's safe," Sam said.

"You've got to spend enough money and pick the right line up, and then you've got a minimum amount of tickets you have to sell, and if you don't reach that number, you're going to lose a lot of money. It's a really risky thing."

Festivals also give up-and-coming acts the chance to hone their craft in front of big audiences and Sam called on the government to make it cheaper to run festivals.

"If they want the arts to flourish in this country, like they do over in America or in the UK, I think the government's going to have to make it a bit cheaper for people to put on music festivals," he said.