Fresh off their album Cursed, the band are bringing a sharpened live show to seven cities.
In 2025, Zürich’s Paleface Swiss awed Australian crowds with their high-octane live performance on the back of their album Cursed. Since then, they’ve only been refining the bone-rattling spectacle they are renowned for, adding another EP to their discography.
Released this year, The Wilted features an intro that breaks into four smashing tracks, built to take audiences somewhere beyond the everyday. It comes at a time when Paleface Swiss are one of the fastest-rising bands in heavy music – something Australian crowds can attest to.
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The band are set to return to Australia in early 2027 for a national run, including The Forum in Melbourne – a venue they’ve played before, and one that frontman Marc ‘Zelli’ Zellweger loved.
“I remember we played the Forum in Melbourne once on the first tour that we did,” states Zellweger. “We supported In Hearts Wake when we played there and honestly, that was one of the best shows we’ve done in Australia. I’m really excited to play there, as well as some of the other venues we have shows at.”
With both Counterparts and Fox Lake joining the tour, the upcoming shows offer a bigger proposition than Paleface Swiss’s earlier Australian visits. “The last headline tour we did in Australia was only us and Nasty, our best friends, and they had never been there before,” Zellweger reflects. “We literally came to Australia not really knowing what to expect so we just played. There wasn’t really any production, we just played songs and the people seemed to love it.
“This time everything is so much bigger, and we’re bringing bands that have been there before. It feels like it’s getting more serious because we’re trying to bring something way bigger, way more crazy. I love Counterparts so much and I like Fox Lake a lot too, it’s a dream tour. I’m going to watch those bands every night and have the best time ever. So, I’m really excited about everything on this tour.”
There is a sense of pride too, and a desire to honour Australian crowds by expanding the live show, driven by how much energy Paleface Swiss have taken from their shows in the country.
“We are blown away by the audience in Australia too. Australia is one of the best places for heavy music and really that’s the truth. It’s so sick. It’s been two tours that we’ve done down there and both of them have been amazing, the response from the crowds has been amazing. I think it’s the sing-alongs and how rowdy you guys get, it’s perfect for a band like us. I love being there and I’m really, really, really glad that the people like us so much as well, it feels really good.”
That exchange feeds the band’s energy in turn, making Australian shows a two-way street between crowd and stage.
“I need the people to be active; I need that so much,” Zellweger says. “We perform so much better when we see how the people go crazy. Like you said, if everybody gets crazy, we can go crazy and it’s just a whole thing of energy and that’s exactly what I need.”
It’s shaping up to be a huge tour for a band that has used recent shows to sharpen their live set into something more complete.
“We’re at the point where everything is dialled in,” notes Zellweger. “The songs that we play all have lights and all that. But I’m honestly thinking about preparing some songs just for the sake of if we want to play them or like if the people demand that we play another.”
All things considered, it remains a risk for a band like Paleface Swiss to tour in Australia – a 22 to 30 hour flight, give or take, and an expensive trip at that – so for Zellweger and the band, it’s a relief to know that fans are coming to the shows.
“It always is a big risk that you have to take and it gives you so much peace and also energy to know that people want to come see you. It makes you more like, fuck yeah, let’s go, let’s give them everything we’ve got.”
Everything they’ve got is exactly what to expect from Paleface Swiss on their 2027 Australian headline tour.
