Snowman CD
Launch - Gilkisons - Saturday, October 21,
X-Press Mag
Sold
out by the time the first support act were
cooling themselves down post-performance,
Snowman’s CD launch was an absolute treat of
a gig. Introducing many punters to a new
venue (for live bands at least), the launch
was an exciting night of great people, great
bands, and great vibrations.
Streetlight were the first to guinea pig the
venue’s sound, and although the band looked
to be struggling to hear themselves clearly
they did well to hold things together and
execute their machine gun rhythms with
trademark tightness. A little more variety
of ideas will serve this band well, but in
terms of potential, no one can touch them.
Rachael Dease just about tore the roof off
Gilkisons with her jumbo jet-sized voice.
For a singer to be able to cut through a
band as intense as Schvendes would be
impressive enough as it is, but Dease’s
ability to actually power this intensity is
absolutely jaw-dropping.
Undefinable (at least to any level
of accuracy), Schvendes’ music seems
even more punchy live, and with the
natural acoustics of the studio
adding a very ‘surround sound’
quality to tonight’s performance,
the magic that lies within this band
was very much at the forefront.
Relentless and pummelling for what
seemed like well over an hour,
Snowman played out their set as if
it were a live tailor-made
soundtrack to a short film festival,
rather than a collection of
individual songs within a band’s
repertoire.
Seldom breaking pace - though
breaking up their rather
same-sounding songs with some
interludes of a kind - Snowman
showcased the best of what they have
to offer, played as well as it ever
has been. Vocalist – and the band’s
drawcard for this punter – Andy
Citawarman’s falsetto shriek was
note perfect and spine-tingling;
sounding even more alien and
heavenly being bounced around the
reverb-friendly dance studio. Even
the self-sacrifice of Ramadan made
little impact on the tiny singer’s
energy levels, which at times
pointed to some form of temporary
madness.
His bandmates – Joe McKee in
particular – looked and sounded
their best as well; a sign that
perhaps the nervous excitement of
the occasion had spurred the band on
to excel. Even after all this time,
and countless shows, Snowman can
still turn it up a notch when they
want to, and for way of band, crowd,
venue, and event, this was quite
possibly the best Snowman show to
date.
Actually, there’s no ‘possibly’
about it… this was the one.
_MIKE WAFER