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 Photo: Justin Edwards
A headliner is his own right, Sydney singer-songwriter Sam Shinazzi brings a full band up to open the slow-starting mid-week evening at The Zoo with his rocking melancholia. We’re offered an up-beat Game Over from his 2005 release Stories You Wouldn’t Believe, which is still gaining significant momentum internationally. Also from that 2005 release, Scotty Come Home features stark changes, both in tone and tempo that remind me to head to the bar for earplugs. Persistence pays for local indie heroes Screamfeeder, who return to The Zoo stage in fine form despite having not played in a while. Perhaps significant for what they left out, Tim, Kellie and Steph stick to a decidedly older set list, with the Kitten Licks album getting a well deserved airing. Explode Your Friends features early, before the classics Static and Dart remind us of Screamfeeder’s local superstardom. The Space That’s Left helps the band dodge the more frequented material from Take You Apart, while Sushi Bowl takes us way back to the Burn Out Your Name release. Returning with the original three-piece line-up to promote new album Three Easy Pieces, Chicagoan indie rock merchants Buffalo Tom encounter a willing, but expectant audience, many of them seasoned rockers themselves. Predictably, the well known Let Me Come Over release is featured heavily from the get-go, with Staples opening the set in guitar overdrive. There are noticeable shifts in audience intensity throughout the night, with Summer, Larry, Velvet Roof and set closer Tail Lights Fade all providing peak moments. Ending in a timewarp, they travel back to their first J. Mascis-produced album in Sunflower Suit as singing guitarist Bill Janovitz alludes to his fading voice, despite the obvious fact he sounds better after the hour and a half of vocal stress. JAMES STAFFORD.
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