Unfortunately only a rather sparse crowd rocked up to the Greenroom on Saturday night to see Rocket Science: what they missed was a blistering set of wailing keys, catatonia, violent crowd interaction and Brechtian use of space. All ably supported by The Shake Up and Peabody.

Three-piece, The Shake Up got things started with a Ramones-like clipped, no nonsense 35 minute set of punk-rock. With not much crowd to work with the boys tried their best to warm us up with cheeky shtick concerning Wolfmother and Van She Tech (not sure if there is any significance in the Modular connection and Rocket Science’s departure from it) and deprecation of the fine folk of Mildura but it was their music that did all the talking. They played They Say No, Home Ec, Meat in the Middle and others during their energetic set and if the Greenroom was packed to the rafters it would have been a memorable occasion. Sadly there was not even a drunken fool flailing about with most of the crowd lingering self-consciously towards the rear. The Shake Up feel like the logical culmination of 30-odd years of punk – let’s hope they break through.

Second on the ticket was Peabody. The most noticeable aspect initially was the Rogers and Hammerstein getup of guitarist Tristan Courtney-Prior. This was coupled with a Keith Richards coiffure together resulting in Courtney-Prior looking every bit the sozzled pirate that Mick Jagger described his Rolling Stones counterpart. Lead singer Bruno Brayovic contributed pith to the vitriolic lyrics, Courtney-Prior a wall of feedback elicited from emotive lunges at his amp, and Jared Harrison a rollicking and menacing beat. Bassist Ben Chamie pulls it all together to produce Peabody’s mature and thoughtful indie-rock. Playing slightly longer than The Shake Up, Peabody squeezed in quite a bit of their back catalogue and songs from their upcoming album Prospero. Two highlights from the set were Buzzard v Ibis – a funny little ditty about those ghastly flying rats – and the melodic Big Sur.

The Greenroom, from past experience has a great list of songs at their disposal for playing between bands. Tonight it was on show between The Shake Up and Peabody, but the DJ must have had a mid-gig conversion to Hinduism because the music between Peabody and Rocket Science gave me a sudden urge to do a downward-facing dog to child’s pose. This was only a minor distraction.

Next Rocket Science marched on stage and without ado got straight to it. Something must have been in the stars, because guitarist Paul Maybery, like Peabody’s Courtney-Prior, looked to be wearing fancy dress. This time however, it was no musical costume, rather it looked as though he was about to dance the paso doble with a lucky lady in the crowd. I digress.

The band played a variety of songs from their four albums including the instantly recognisable Being Followed, but concentrated on songs from their new album Different Like You such as Sinful Cowboy, Psychic Man and Jukebox Junkie. Head-honcho Roman Tucker is an exponent of the mysterious Theremin: an instrument that looks to be no more than a wooden box and piece of wire producing a distorted, haunting trill. His manipulation of this truly bizarre instrument by waving his hand around the wire was just as intriguing as its sound. However, as good as the music was, it played second fiddle to the antics of Mr Tucker.

To call him a loose unit would not do him justice. It comes as no surprise after witnessing a Rocket Science gig that he has spent time in a coma. Throughout the set his sweat-soaked imposing frame dominated the stage with a loping gait and ferocious gaze. Not content with the stage, Tucker was keen to add the floor to his dominion. Twice he made his way through the crowd: once which resulted in him head-butting someone in the crowd and the second time to play the upright piano at the back of the room. Needless to say he met no resistance en route to the piano.

The only shame of the evening was the lack of crowd. However, those who were there would have nothing to complain about.

Written and reviewed by Ging.