ZOAX + Dead! @ Alfie Birds, 7th April 2015
Before this evening and having seen ZOAX tear up some decent size rooms during various support slots I’d completely assumed that they would be playing Alfie Birds larger room, the Oobleck for their first headline tour. I was pretty surprised to find the Oobleck doors locked and realize that we’d be in the much smaller, darker upstairs room. It was at that point I got the feeling that the evening was either going to be a complete bust or I was going to witness something pretty special. Half an hour after doors with just fifteen people in the cosy upstairs room I was starting to get a little worried.
Just after 8pm fresh-faced Southampton punksters Dead! made their way into the clearing that would serve as tonight’s stage. Immediately it was clear both from the merch on display and the reaction that most, if not all of the small audience were fans. Their sound doesn’t easily fall into a genre though as first listen there are definitely post-hardcore and almost metalcore vibes but any clunky edges are rounded out with softer, almost mellow tones such as those on display during the almost anthemic feeling Alaska. Their partisan fans were treated to an airing of new track Shocker before their fairly short set drew to a close. Glancing at my watch and it being just 8:30 I got the feeling that no one was going to be missing the last bus tonight.
The filler during the changeover was pleasantly provided by Feed The Rhino, and provided a great segue to the evening’s headliners ZOAX. Lead singer Adam Carroll paced around the sparsely populated venue while things were set up and in usual ZOAX style placed the mic stand right in the centre of where the crowd would be standing.
If you’ve never seen ZOAX live, it’s something that you need to do, though be warned you will be part of the show. Adam hurtles around venues like he’s missed several doses of Ritalin, darting between steeling clothing from members of the audience, tickling people with his amble beard, physically moving onlookers to be closer to the stage and tearing about the place on a wheelie office chair to name but a few of his tics. It’s not the sort of chaotic front man performance that leaves your heart in your mouth in fear of a headstock to the face along the lines of Baby Godzilla, but something altogether more friendly.
A couple of songs into the set the crowd were reminded that there were only three and a half of them present so everyone needed to get involved in a bit of dancing and those intent on clinging to the walls were further reminded that if you’d paid to go to a gig you should at least have a bit of a boogie before being physically coerced into the centre of the room.
During their live set, with all of the antics going on some people may overlook ZOAX’s musicality, but that’s absolutely at their peril. There were a couple of minor issues with feedback and bum notes but those were quickly forgiven to the delivery of a sound which really is all their own. Flitting between melodic grooving riffs with superb clean vocals to almost brutal heavy passages all via some pretty intricate time signature changes, the content from their EP XIII and debut album Is Everybody Listening? was translated brilliantly to the live environment. Their set culminated in the killer Bitter.Angry.Fake which saw Adam scream most of latter half out of the window at the rest of the unsuspecting Custard Factory.
I had to feel a little disappointed that there weren’t more people there for ZOAX this evening, and can’t imagine how that is anything to do with either their music or their live performance. Here’s to hoping exposure from another busy festival season will tee up another headline tour later in the year where more people can experience what ZOAX are all about.
ZOAX setlist:
Lonely Souls
Burn It To The Ground
Click
Right Words
Jekyll Meets Hyde
Innocent Eyes (Acoustic)
Zero Point Seven
Mindgame
Bitter.Angry.Fake
Review and photographs: Steve Kilmister