ORTHODOX's Adam Easterling Talks Favourite Australian Tour Memories & 2026 Bucket List

Florida hardcore outfit ORTHODOX are set to make their long-awaited return to Australia this July and August, joining fellow heavyweights WAGE WAR and HEAVENSGATE on the Australian leg of the It Calls Me By Name World Tour. Fresh off the back of their first-ever Australian visit in 2025, the Nashville bruisers quickly built a passionate local following, with packed merch lines, unforgettable shows and an immediate connection with Aussie fans. Ahead of their return, vocalist Adam Easterling dropped by to reflect on the band’s favourite memories from their debut Australian tour—from Brisbane’s incredible welcome and Melbourne’s world-class coffee to quokkas, Vegemite and why he believes “Australia is what I wish America was”—as well as what remains on the band’s bucket list for future visits Down Under.

Last year when we went to Australia and supported Stray From The Path, Brisbane was our first show, and it was also the first show that this band had ever played outside of the States. Ironically in 2026, we’ll have been to Australia twice before we’ve ever made it to Europe once. I don’t know how that came about!
But at that venue in Brisbane when we opened for Stray… to come out and have that be our first show outside of the country, it felt like we’d been there a thousand times. We were playing at what was about 5:40am my time. And when we got done, we had a line for merch that was 20 minutes long and then one line over was another line of people wanting to just meet us, which was crazy. We’d experienced people waiting to talk to us before, but never to the degree like that. We had a line of people wanting to meet us longer than Stray had for people to buy their merch at the end. It was unbelievable. I kind of looked at the guys and was like, “Is this what it’s going to be like everywhere?” And it was not. But Brisbane was really cool. For that to be our first ever show outside of the country, and for it to make that big of an impact, was really sick.
Also, Sushi Hub over there is unbelievable. I miss it every day.
The coffee in Australia is also unbelievable. I’m a big coffee nerd. We had a couple of days in Melbourne and we just went nuts with that. That was great.
Melbourne as a city would be up there too. If I could afford to live anywhere in the world, it would probably be Melbourne. It’s basically the accessibility, transportive mobility and feel of Brooklyn, New York, except it’s so calm, so clean and everyone’s so kind. It was exactly what I wish America was. Australia as a whole is what I wish America was. You can genuinely tell with things as simple as the tram that the country itself cares for its people more than it cares for its profit. That’s something big that I took away from Australia.
The visuals in Australia were awesome too. We drove everywhere on that tour—we didn’t fly anywhere except from Adelaide to Perth. We drove with a guy named Greg, who’s a legend. He drives every band on their first Australian tour. It was cool seeing the difference in the landscape because it wasn’t even like the vegetation was unfamiliar to what America has. It was just different. I don’t even really know how to describe it, but it was incredible.
We also went to Rottnest Island. I know that’s kind of a touristy thing, but that was the most beautiful place I’ve ever been to in my entire life. I met the quokkas there, and I did feed them. I’m not ashamed to say it.
I did try Vegemite while I was there. I don’t really understand it—it kind of just tastes like stale soy sauce paste. But I was like, “I’m going to try it, I’ve got to try it.” And it was… fine.
Aside from that, we didn’t get to do a tonne of touristy things. We did try meat pies and all that stuff—amazing! And actually, y’all have an energy drink over there called V. The Raspberry Lemonade V is out of this world. Me and Ben Touchberry, our guitarist, shared hotel rooms for the whole tour, and we had four cans in every room we stayed in. I don’t even normally drink energy drinks, it’s just this Raspberry Lemonade V. It’s amazing!
In terms of the things we want to return to this year, the bummer about coming back in August is this is now two straight years we’ve been to Australia in winter. So we haven’t gotten to do a lot of the nature-y things. We did go to Lone Pine right outside of Brisbane, the koala place. I saw some kangaroos there, and I got really close to some all-black ostrich-looking thing. Greg, our driver, was like, “Oh, you just pet them.” I’m like, “I’m not touching that!” I got up next to it and thought, “I’m not petting him. This is how Americans come to a different country and lose a finger.”
I really want to come over there between December and March one year, in the summer. That would be ideal. I love heat. I grew up playing sports and getting nasty seven days a week, so I don’t mind being sweaty and gross. I’d love to escape what is becoming a frigid winter in Nashville, Tennessee, and go to Australia where it’ll be warm. That would be amazing.
We’ll have four days in Melbourne on this upcoming tour with Wage War, and I was literally making a joke the other day that I’m going to have to get a new credit card because there’s just so much bullshit to get into in Melbourne. It’s insane. And none of it is cheap. So that’ll be fun (laughs).