Nunchukka Superfly and Pit

This is a follow-up to my story about the Helmet concert in Melbourne. Just to recap — the gig was on 25 April 2026 at the Northcote Theatre. Northcote’s one of Melbourne’s inner suburbs, for those who don’t know it.

As you’d expect, legends of American heavy music like Helmet don’t go it alone on tour. They bring support acts with them. This time around there were two of them.

Nunchukka Superfly

The main support was Australian heavy music legends Nunchukka Superfly. And they’re no beginners either. The band formed back in 1993 in Sydney, with experienced musicians who’d been playing hard rock and punk. The current lineup has three members: guitarist/frontman Peter “Blackie” Black and bassist Ray Ahn from the original crew. I never learned the drummer’s name.

Slapping a label on their sound is pretty tricky. Music journalists throw around terms like heavy punk, punk metal, or alternative metal. The band themselves couldn’t be bothered with all that. As Blackie said in one interview — with a few choice words thrown in — “It’s our band. We can do whatever we want!”

Nunchukka Superfly are pretty well known and successful. By 2026 they’d put out 9 albums and regularly tour overseas.

My take? Bloody great music! I’ll let you in on a little secret — don’t tell anyone, or the Helmet fans will have my head — but Nunchukka were actually my favourite act of the night. I’d have gone to the gig just for them. Here’s a couple of short video clips:

https://www.flickr.com/gp/147740420@N06/89FqXpo337

https://www.flickr.com/gp/147740420@N06/7Y912oEoM9

I didn’t get a chance to have a yarn with the musicians, but I did get some photos!

Pit

Helmet had not one but two support acts this time. The second band was Pit — three young musicians from Newcastle, New South Wales. And when I say young, I mean teenagers. They’re genuinely 18–19 years old.

When I ducked into the production office before the show to drop my gear, I found three kids sitting quietly on a couch. They introduced themselves as Bailey, Korby, and Hamish, and were super polite and a bit shy. I honestly thought someone had brought their kids along to the concert. Turns out they weren’t guests at all — they were the band. I got my camera out straight away and they were more than happy to pose for a few shots.

Their shyness — and honestly, their slightly starstruck look — makes total sense. They’ve all been Helmet fans since they were 12. And here they were, getting to hang out with their rock heroes and play a set before their show. The lads were a little emotional, to say the least.

I was genuinely impressed by their music. They played well — really well. Sure, they’ve still got room to grow as musicians, but they’re already at a pretty solid level. These could easily be future rock stars. Here is a video clip:

https://www.flickr.com/gp/147740420@N06/81k5ce1eWM

The Pit lineup:

Guitar/vocals — Bailey Parker

Bass — Hamish Sanders

Drums — Korby Essex

If you need high-resolution files, just drop me a message.