Screamfeeder @ The EastBrunswick Club, Melbourne(27/06/2009)

Mon 29th Jun, 2009 in Gig Reviews

First up were Sounds Like Sunset breezing through a set of feedback tinged soft pop/rock. The audience at this stage is pretty lax keeping its distance from the stage, holding to quiet drinks and muted conversation. This doesn’t seem to phase the band at all in fact they seem completely disinterested in the crowd and are just happy to run through their set at a leisurely pace. The one exception is the bartender who jives a way behind the bar and shows his appreciation between songs.

The comparisons between Sounds Like Sunset and Dinosaur Jr are impossible to miss with singer and guitarist David Challinor’s wistful vocals and the slight feedback of his guitar meanderings. Coupled with the pop sensibilities of Nada Surf, the band provided a nice dream pop atmosphere.

Sounds Like Sunset are incredibly nice to listen to but the lack of variation and interation meant they were setting no ones world alight. So while most people would find it hard to dislike them I doubt many would find them memorable.

After a short interlude the next band Midget burst into action. In complete contrast to Sounds Like Sunset, Midget quickly fill the room with their aggressive brand of thrash punk rock. Guitarist and bass player alternate vocals unfortunately neither of them are particularly capable of holding a tune. The bass player at least has the distinction of a deep gravely sound to his voice that recalls Lemmy with less finesse (not that Lemmy is classically trained or anything.) Other than sound and energy the other way they differ radically from the first act is interaction with the audience.

The guitarist constantly shouted short bursts of inflammatory dialogue at the audience but the most amusing moment comes when a punter responds. Yelling, – œHomophobe’ from somewhere near the sound desk. The frontman responds by stopping the set and demanding to know, – œwho said that?’ several members of the crowd are more than happy to comply pointing excitedly at the offending party. At which point he invites the accuser up on stage with him. Taking a mike the punter who looks somewhat like Jermaine from Flight of the Concords, takes a mike angrily stating, “No homos’, you might as well say no blacks or women too.’ The frontman responds by claiming that he himself is gay and the audience member’s mike is swiftly cut off. I don’t think anyone was expecting this controversial turn but the band seem determined to keep offending suggesting that their heckler is in need of a Snuggy.

When Screamfeeder come on I look around to see a room full of 30 year olds looking to relieve the hey day of the mid nineties. Opening track Static gets a good response and kicks things into gear. As we progress through Kitten Licks I come to the conclusion that whilst I enjoy the female bass player and backing vocalist in the vein of Pixies, in particular on Dart, the band seem to have lost the youthful energy I’m sure they had when first touring the album.

In fact even in their prime Screamfeeder weren’t a revolutionary band or for that matter a mainstream success. So I guess if anything they will be remembered as a mid tier alternative rock band from Brisbane. There are much worse things you could be accused of and there are more than enough bands of equivalent stature today I just can’t see them winning many new fans, even if the old fans continue to love it out of nostalgia.

CHECK OUT THE PHOTOS FROM THE GIG HERE