Heatseekers
LARGE MIRAGE Have the Songs to Back It Up
Ben Preece
9 Oct 2026
🔥 A WAXX LYRICAL HEATSEEKER 🔥
LARGE MIRAGE make the kind of rock music that doesn't have much use for a laptop, a click track or anyone telling them the guitar solo has gone out of fashion. There's something wonderfully refreshing about this Sydney outfit. At its creative core is songwriter, guitarist and vocalist Kolya Chan, whose understated charisma and fearless guitar playing have become defining characteristics of the band's sound. Their latest single, ‘WILDFIRE’, makes a persuasive case for the enduring appeal of musicians playing together, guitars given room to breathe and songs that retain the unpredictable energy of a live performance.
Inspired by a harrowing drive through the Hawkesbury region during Australia's devastating Black Summer bushfires, ‘WILDFIRE’ transforms an intensely personal memory into a formidable piece of guitar-driven rock. Recorded with acclaimed producer Michael Badger (King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Amyl and the Sniffers, You Am I), the track captures a band increasingly confident in its own identity, with an immediacy that comes from playing together without the constraints of a click track.
There's an unmistakable affection for rock's more extravagant years running through their music. The towering guitars and Hammond organ recall Deep Purple, the ambitious vocal harmonies bring Queen to mind, and there's a touch of The Darkness in their unapologetic vocal prowess. But for all the sonic comparisons, it's the songwriting that really distinguishes them. Beneath the riffs, solos and vintage swagger are memorable melodies, thoughtful arrangements and, most importantly, songs that would stand up just as convincingly stripped of the spectacle.
From intimate Sydney venues to opening two sold-out AC/DC shows at Accor Stadium, supporting TISM and earning an invitation to Scotland's Bonfest, LARGE MIRAGE are finding receptive audiences well beyond their usual territory. Such was the impact of those blistering AC/DC support slots that people are still stopping Chan in the street to talk about them. With another single, ‘WATCHING’, due October 20 and a forthcoming EP on the horizon, there's plenty more to come.
We caught up with LARGE MIRAGE guitarist, vocalist and principal songwriter Kolya Chan to talk ‘WILDFIRE’, working with Michael Badger, sharing a stage with AC/DC and why the human element remains at the heart of everything they do.
LARGE MIRAGE - 'WILDFIRE'
You guys are proudly old-school when it comes to making music. Big guitars, analogue recording, musicians playing together in a room. Is that a conscious choice, or is it simply how you've always wanted to make records?
My parents were always playing their music around the house and like a lot of other musicians I grew up with the warmer sounds of that era, singers, instruments that required practise to play properly, real players. What automatically equates to music for me are all of those elements and analogue recordings and for me its synonymous with creating and playing music. Write a good song that can be sung and played with real instruments and there won’t be any reasons to then overcomplicate it.
'WILDFIRE' comes from a pretty intense personal experience during the Black Summer bushfires. Can you take us back to that day in the Blue Mountains? What happened, and how did it eventually become a song?
I had arranged to have a jam with a new band for the first time and Black Summer had gone from looming to wreaking havoc and I was driving deep into Hawkesbury country. The wildfires were everywhere and the blistering heat and visions of the destruction and the people directly affected by it have never left me. Last year I was working on the guitar riff in 'WILDFIRE' and vivid memories of that day returned and where Large Mirage had begun. The physical experience, other feelings, thoughts and images, all coalesced into ‘WILDFIRE’.
What's interesting about Wildfire is that, despite where it came from, it's an absolute ripper of a rock song. Was it always going to sound that big and uplifting, or did it take a while to find its feet?
It came out of me in one hit and I demoed all the parts and vocals with lyrics and presented it to the band who dug it. 'WILDFIRE' was an easy live choice and added to the set straight up.
You worked with Michael Badger on this one, and he's got a pretty impressive CV, including King Gizzard, Amyl & The Sniffers and You Am I. What was he like to work with? Did he push you in any unexpected directions?
Michael Badger is unique and has an incredible ear and taste and gives you enough rope to feel an overreach as it happens so you correct it. We’d been playing the material for months live and were relatively prepared. Michael took almost a split second and had it. He captured the instruments sounding great together and the energy and spirit of the song as it is delivered live. Michael’s highly intuitive and says a lot with his eyes and magic definitely happens when he’s at the desk.
I love that you recorded without a click track. There's something about musicians playing off each other that you just can't replicate with everything locked to a grid. How important is that human element to the LARGE MIRAGE sound?
The human element is all there is and without it, there is no real connection and there would be no grid to lock to without it.
And were there any happy accidents in the studio that made it onto the record?
There are plenty of them and if you listen closely, they all made it onto the record
Right, let's talk AC/DC. Two sold-out shows at Accor Stadium! That's a pretty ridiculous gig to land. What was it like walking out in front of that many people?
I'd like to say I remember, but it was pretty surreal and I couldn't feel my legs. The AC/DC fans were awesome from the outset and we clicked with them and it was like a match made in heaven.
And did you get much of a chance to hang out with the band?
What happens at AC/DC stays at AC/DC.
You've also shared a stage with TISM, which must have been a completely different experience! Between those gigs and your own headline shows, what have you learned about putting on a great live show?
We're fortunate to have been able to play a lot of our own gigs and that's allowed us to develop a decent live show : the key to going over well at an established artist's event is another matter. Know what their audience get from the headline act and make sure you give them plenty of it and more.
You've been playing a hell of a lot of shows lately. Has all that time on the road changed the way you play together? Do you find yourselves taking more risks onstage now?
For sure! It’s changed the way each of us play as individuals and the way we play together and taking risks without reason is the best part of playing live!!
It's no secret that you guys love classic rock, but I'm interested in what you think makes LARGE MIRAGE different. How do you take all those influences and turn them into something that's unmistakably yours?
The guitar solos for a start. Each solo tells its own part of the story and is a song within itself. The song structures and arrangements are unconventional. Not many songs are written for or performed with three-part harmonies across blanket sets of Hard Rock, Rock, Prog, Psych, Folk into Pop. The last 2 genres having more cause for 3 part than most and tracks are not usually penned to interlink with the other genres. My parents' music caused the sounds my brain interprets as music to lock in very early on. My sound is not a gimmick and the songs are contemporary songs but not recorded in a contemporary way. When a song comes to me, I don't hear a drum machine in it. One day I might get a modern artist to record them to see how they sound.
Let's talk guitars. You're not afraid of a big riff or a proper guitar solo, which I absolutely love. When you're writing, what comes first? Is it usually someone bringing in a riff, a melody, a lyric, or do the best ideas happen when you're all jamming together?
When songs come to me, all of those elements are already in there, riffs, solos, words, meaning, feel and sound. The work is indivisible. When we formed, of course, ideas came from jamming and it was critical to us evolving but sadly jamming has falling victim to time constraints.
You've gone from playing intimate venues to sharing stadium stages with AC/DC. They're two very different ways to experience live music. Do you have a preference? And does the size of the room change the way you approach a show?
Not only from intimate venues to stadium stages, we’ve always played inner city subterranean clubs, theatres, gig pubs, and houseparties while none of these audiences cross over. Australian audiences are fantastic and they all dig what we are doing and get up on the dance floor - each scene dances and dresses differently to the other but that's about it.
You've sold out your own headline shows in Sydney and Melbourne, so something's clearly connecting with people. Who's turning up to LARGE MIRAGE gigs these days? Are you seeing a younger crowd discovering this kind of rock music for the first time?
Live audiences have remained young in the younger venues and the dancier crowd has moved in, skewed towards females by a few, sometimes fathers and sons/daughters venture along, we’ve noticed a notable increase in younger boys taking up guitar.
The Wildfire tour eventually takes you all the way to Scotland for Bonfest, which celebrates the life and music of Bon Scott. That's a pretty special connection for an Australian rock band. How did that come about, and what are you most looking forward to about taking LARGE MIRAGE overseas?
We have an amazing booking agency who received the invite from Bonfest over the weekend and had it locked in by the Monday. We’ll likely stay and do a few other shows while we are there. Perhaps record a few tunes too
We're a record club, so I've got to ask about your own collections. Are you vinyl guys? What records get the most spins at home, and is there one album you reckon everyone should hear at least once in their life?
Year Of The Cat by Al Stewart is one of the most beautifully produced albums - it's probably the most worn out in my place. Closely followed by The Who and Deep Purple
Finally, things seem to be moving pretty quickly for LARGE MIRAGE at the moment. You've got 'WILDFIRE', a stack of shows and an overseas trip on the horizon. What's next? Are you already thinking about an album? And if we have this conversation again in five years, where would you love the band to be?
‘WATCHING’, the second single from our forthcoming EP will be out on 20th October alongside another tour.
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