Interview by Ali Williams
SCREAMFEEDER, the beloved Brisbane Indie Rock Trio, formed back in 1991, and in 2026 have proven to be one of this country's influential groups in the industry. They’re best known for turning down major-label offers throughout the 90’s as a way of maintaining their independence and ultimately having control over where and how their music was created and displayed. Their decision to do this inspired an entire generation of Australian alternative musicians by showing them that they had options and to seriously consider exercising them.
Tim Steward has been doing this long enough to know when a band is repeating itself, when a room feels right, and when a stranger in her twenties accidentally delivers the funniest career review imaginable.
Speaking with HEAVY’s Ali Williams ahead of Screamfeeder’s run of July shows, Steward was relaxed, generous and wonderfully unfazed by the fact that his band has now lived through more musical eras than most streaming services have patience for.
Screamfeeder are not a band having a comeback, exactly. Comebacks are for acts that disappeared properly. Screamfeeder never really did. They just wandered through the strange machinery of time, vinyl reissues, loyal punters, new songs, old bruises, and the occasional “last ever show” that, naturally, turned out to be no such thing.
“We’ve been around for a million years,” Steward laughed, which is not strictly true but emotionally accurate enough to pass in court.
The band are currently working on new material, though Tim is the first to admit it is moving at the sort of pace that suggests creativity has its own union and refuses to be rushed on a Monday. After eight albums, the challenge is not whether Screamfeeder can still write songs. That part is handled. The problem is making sure they do not fall back into old habits simply because those habits know where the kettle is.
Check out the full interview for more.
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