Burning Seed @ Matong State Forest

Burning Seed is a totally unique experience that encompasses visual and performance-based art along with a cornucopia of musical styles both live and electronic. Now into its fifth year, the arts gathering ran over seven days in the Matong State Forest in rural New South Wales.

Arriving just after 1am on the Saturday morning, we did not know what to expect, being ‘virgin burners’. As we drove through the site I could not help but think how different this looked to the typical festival. Inspired by Burning Man, Burning Seed centres around the burning of two structures: this year it was a gigantic wooden galah, and a temple where participants were encouraged to write their own messages.

Burning Seed is also known as Red Earth City, a community of 2,300 people of all different ages. It has its own brewery, along with a radio station broadcasting throughout the event, Red Earth Radio, which featured a plethora of music, spoken word and strange sounds. With around 50 theme camps there were plenty of ‘sound camps’ to choose from, each with their own unique flavours and performers.

Diversity ran strong: amongst these camps were the Swing Dog Circus, Kamp Krakken, Sunset Island, Bean Bag Babylon and Trash Mansion, ensuring an eclectic range of music was on offer. Everything from house to DnB to dub, electro swing and rock could be heard throughout Burning Seed. Highlights included Bean Bag Babylon with its wacky performances and décor; Coco Poco Loco, a mobile stage being towed by a ride-on lawnmower, of all things; and The Mint Country Club.

For those who enjoyed a punt, Star Shitty was a must-see, complete with its own table where a game of slap roulette was in full swing. The acoustic-based Evolver Lounge was ideal for unwinding, as musicians, poets and even a troupe of burlesque performers took to the stage. With so many first-time Burners attending the event this year, the feeling among most, myself included, was that it would not be our last.