Newcastle Teen's Band Maple's Pet Dinosaur Soars After Viral Hit
As students across the Hunter region returned to school this week, one Newcastle teenager had a summer story that truly stood out from the rest. Merewether 15-year-old Maple Johns, the frontwoman of the rising rock band Maple's Pet Dinosaur, has experienced what she describes as "the craziest six months" of her life, catapulting from local debut to national stages.
A Meteoric Rise to Prominence
Maple returned to the Hunter School of Performing Arts on Monday with exciting news: her band has been announced as the youngest act scheduled to perform at Hellbound 2 in January 2027. This heavy metal cruise from Sydney features major acts like Parkway Drive, The Amity Affliction, Alpha Wolf, I Killed the Prom Queen, and Thy Art Is Murder.
This booking follows an incredible run of shows for the band, who only made their live debut at Newcastle's King Street Warehouse last September. The Newcastle Herald attended that inaugural performance, describing Maple's stage presence as "confident" and "dripping with rock attitude and dominated by Maple's powerhouse vocals."
Festival Circuit Success and Industry Recognition
Since that debut, the nu-metal revivalists have appeared at several prestigious events including SXSW Sydney in October, the Good Things Festival in December alongside international headliners Tool, Weezer and Garbage, and on the main stage of Woodford Folk Festival in December.
Between these performances, Maple has participated in Always Live events, performed a hybrid electric-acoustic set in Melbourne's CBD, and even received personalised career advice from UK star Yungblud. She has also collaborated with famed US rock photographer Chris Cuffaro, known for his iconic images of late INXS frontman Michael Hutchence and directing Pearl Jam's Jeremy music video.
Looking ahead, Maple is scheduled to fly to Darwin in May for the Bassinthegrass festival, where she will share the stage with The Teskey Brothers, Ball Park Music, G Flip and Peking Duk.
The Viral Spark That Ignited a Career
This whirlwind journey began with just two singles: Lego and Chorus. Lego launched her career in spectacular fashion when the track's "ring camera" music video went viral on social media, accumulating an impressive 55.2 million views on Instagram alone.
"It's been the craziest six months since I dropped Lego," Maple reflects. "It kind of went wild on the internet and that led to a lot of unexpected live opportunities. I was born to rip live though, so me and the band have approached every show as a chance to bring people into this MPD world."
Musical Influences and Audience Appeal
Maple's Pet Dinosaur draws inspiration from the grunge and nu-metal scene of the 1990s and early 2000s, citing influences from bands like Faith No More, Melvins, Rage Against the Machine, Deftones, Green Day and Beastie Boys. She also acknowledges female singers Gwen Stefani and Paramore's Hayley Williams as major inspirations.
The band's diverse live performances have provided Maple with valuable insights into her growing fan base. "My audience is largely made up of teenage girls and their dads," she observes. "I think girls find the lyrics relatable and the dads can hear the influence of all the '90s and 2000s stuff that they listened to growing up. I love all that stuff, but this isn't cosplay. I want to make relevant stuff for kids today inspired by the greats from 20 to 30 years ago."
New Music on the Horizon
While Maple's Pet Dinosaur has only released two singles to date, their setlist already contains a wealth of original material. Fans eagerly awaiting new releases may not have to wait much longer.
"I've been working hard on the debut EP," Maple reveals. "I spent a couple of days in the school holidays recording vocals and I can't wait for people to hear the direction the music is going. My fave album at the moment is Faith No More's King For A Day, Fool For A Lifetime and I've been jamming to heaps of Deftones, System of a Down and early Incubus stuff so the tone is dark, dirty and angry, but I always try and put a bit of sparkle on the hooks. I'm excited that the ideas in my head are coming to life through the speakers and I just want to keep pushing it and working as hard as I possibly can."
Staying Connected to Newcastle Roots
Despite her growing national and international ambitions, Maple remains firmly connected to her Newcastle origins. This Saturday, Maple's Pet Dinosaur will play their first headline show at the Lass O'Gowrie Hotel as part of the Lonely Hearts IV line-up. The bill also includes fellow Newcastle acts Large Mirage, Purple Disturbance, Butterknife, Laurapanic, and others.
"This show at the Lass is the first time we've headlined and it's an 18-plus crowd so we can't bring our friends, but we are so pumped to play with a stacked line-up of some of our favourite local bands and we can't wait to light the place up with a big rock show," she says with evident enthusiasm.
