Arriving at the venue early, I caught Melbourne’s Black Is The Colour soundchecking with an excellent version of The Pogues’ A Pair Of Brown Eyes. Their set proper, performed with three acoustic guitars for half the songs and two acoustics and a mandolin for the remainder, consisted of similar folk punk and was obviously influenced by Shane McGowan (among others). However, it only reached comparable peaks for me with the last two tracks, Fallen Men and a cover of Mid Youth Crisis by the band of the same name (frontman Steve Milligan being ex-MYC).

Adelaide rock/punk band Paper Arms were next – “the meat in your acoustic sandwich”, as they said. Singer Josh Mann made mention of the fact that there were four people in the room that night whose songs he had covered in previous bands, but there was no sign of any nervousness as they tore through a set of tight, energetic songs. The quartet put on a gleeful performance that drew heavily from their upcoming album and was appreciated by a vocal crowd.
Walter Schreifels has been in a string of highly influential bands, including Gorilla Biscuits, Youth Of Today, and Rival Schools, as well as Quicksand and Moondog. I wasn’t really sure what to expect from him twenty years on from some of those outfits, especially as he’s not really on tour but in the country to produce Paper Arms’forthcoming album (that must be quite a coup) and is taking advantage of the occasion to play three shows.

Performing solo with an acoustic guitar in front of large posters of Mexican bandits, he began with Gorilla Biscuits’ High Hopes. At first it was a little odd to hear a classic NYC hardcore song played by one guy on an acoustic, especially seeing as Walter, despite being the songwriter and lyricist, wasn’t GB’s vocalist. But in less than a minute the feeling was washed away and everything he played sounded perfect to be reinvented in this way, even when Sick Of It All’s Friends Like You somehow turned into The Smiths’ Ask. Schreifels also played some brand new material, which was straight-up acoustic pop and very enjoyable (although I don’t know what the tattooed hardcore kids thought).

The most impressive thing about the performance though was his ability as a raconteur. His asides were hilarious and he often talked his way through the bridges of the songs, whether about his experience in Adelaide or just about the song he was playing. The back and forth banter with the somewhat cliquey crowd made it seem like he was a fully-fledged member of the close-knit Adelaide scene that made up the majority of the audience. His chatter also kept the momentum from flagging when he experienced technical difficulties, as with his harmonica (meaning that he had to ‘sing’ the famous harmonica solo in Start Today, easily the highlight of the set) or when he ill-advisedly tried to add a distortion pedal to his acoustic in one song.

He finished up with a newly written song based on unique Adelaidean and Australian expressions he’d picked up during his stay, which the crowd lapped up delightedly. All told he was only on stage for 35 minutes but I could have watched him for twice as long and been thoroughly entertained.

Owen Heitmann

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