There’s always something visually compelling about dual drumming outfits, and Table & Chair prove no exception to this rule as they open with fiery garage-spawned drum punk. Lone guitarist Benjamin Snaith is the spitting, fuzzing meat in the percussive sandwich of this local trio and, for a while, his clipped Iggy Pop-inspired vocals and rhythmic delivery meshes nicely with his ragged guitar and the pulsating snares and toms of his cohorts. Problem is, there’s doesn’t seem anywhere for it to go after that. After the initial thrill, the set falls away in a pall of sameness that the band – for all their valiant endeavour – is unable to escape.
Melbourne three-piece Ouch My Face fuse screaming punk vocals, high-intensity shredding and coruscating metal-inspired bass into a searing whole that threatens aural overload. A small knot of Zoo punters hover in a semi-circle around five metres from stage – fascinated yet seemingly afraid to approach closer. At times, pocket rocket guitarist Celeste Potter’s piercing screeches prove a little thin for such a meaty sound, but the tunes have plenty of power and drive – the desire to rock out they instil is undeniable.
As the Kate Cooper cheer squad gathers close, An Horse show the live form that won them a USA tour in the company of Tegan & Sara. Cooper’s ever-charming stage banter is kept to a minimum as the guitar-and-drums duo concentrate on winning hearts and minds with their songcraft. Time and again, Damon Cox’s crisp drumming forms delightful triangles of sound with Cooper’s sweet voice and poppy guitar chords as the effortless pop-rock of debut EP tracks such as Postcards, Camp Out and Warm Hands warm plenty of hearts in the crowd. Still, it’s the hooky “Oh my god you’re a handful” chorus of unrecorded gem Little, Little, Little that lingers in the mind long after the set has concluded.
Friday the 13th jitters seem to have struck the I Heart Hiroshima crew; perhaps bad luck has been drawn by the screenprinted skeleton outfits and helium-filled skull-motif balloons tied to Susie Patten’s drumkit. The usually taut three-piece are ragged, rushing through their pacey punk-pop with unseemly speed. Otherwise fine tunes such as Got Bones?, Teef and Crime suffer as a result – Matthew Somers and Cameron Hawes tentative with the guitars and Patten’s vocals breathless instead of punchy. EP track Red Hands suffers the most as Patten and Somers over-run each other’s vocals during the chorus, bringing the song to a stuttering halt. On the re-run, Patten drops one of her sticks prompting her to comment that she’s not really having much luck tonight.
Nevertheless, Patten’s usual effervescence shines through. She drums with a red rose between her teeth at one point and later hands out balloons to those in the front rows. The sight a score of them bobbing in time to the rhythms of Surgery is incongruously cool. Three new songs prove the most cohesive tunes of the night, prompting hope that the set has turned the corner. The second of the three offers particular intrigue – a structure more plaintive and less brash than the IHH norm. Still, the initial criticism remains: the crowd might be satisfied as they close out pleasingly enough with Crook’d and Stop That but it just hasn’t been IHH’s most impressive night on stage.
