Heavy Petting Zoo

(Adam Walton, BBC Radio Wales DJ)

January 21st 2012:

"I'm going to play something by a band called heavy petiing zoo who i absolutely adore. they're from swansea and it's about the third track in so try and stay awake for that.

“I’m listening for moments of excitement when I’m listening to the music that gets sent to me, and I’m listening for people who just completely convince you that they’re ace and this band have completely convinced me that they’re ace with this track.."

“Great music is 50% spirit, 40% atmosphere and 10% is the ability to play an instrument and they get that completely. That’s just an utterly compulsive, compelling demo, for crying out loud! Brilliant, brilliant vocal on that as well and that makes things stand out."

January 28th 2012:

“…I spent quite a lot of this week listening to garage compilations like ‘Chocolate Soup for Diabetics’. I can highly recommend that one. Volume four is the one that I’ve got currently on rotation on my record player. And also ‘Pebbles volume two’ of the Pebbles collection and for whatever reason there’s a similar atmosphere to Heavy Petting Zoo’s 'Deathproof'. Which I think is a majorly high compliment. I played this on last week’s programme, and I’m trying to play as much new stuff or different tracks as possible, so when things get repeat plays it’s a real sign of absolute favour or me being totally besotted with the tracks. Lucky them ‘ey. That’s called deathproof, they’re from Swansea and they may be listening to the programme. If they are I hope they’re well and I hope they’re enjoying what they’re hearing around their stuff too, like I say is great.”

Saturday 21st April 2012:

"Again, just great. Heavy petting zoo from Swansea with Night Train. It has got a kind of unbridled sexual energy to it. I wasn’t going to bring it up, I don’t want to have sex with them, it just means there’s something. It has the kind of blues, the mojo thing within it. That makes it really interesting and ...let's move on swiftly"

Saturday 12th May 2012:

"That’s heavy petting zoo and Deathproof and it’s phenomenal. It has got the kind of, the smell of motorcycles about it, which I think is a good thing."
- BBC

(Adam Walton, BBC Radio Wales DJ)

January 21st 2012:

"I'm going to play something by a band called heavy petiing zoo who i absolutely adore. they're from swansea and it's about the third track in so try and stay awake for that.

“I’m listening for moments of excitement when I’m listening to the music that gets sent to me, and I’m listening for people who just completely convince you that they’re ace and this band have completely convinced me that they’re ace with this track.."

“Great music is 50% spirit, 40% atmosphere and 10% is the ability to play an instrument and they get that completely. That’s just an utterly compulsive, compelling demo, for crying out loud! Brilliant, brilliant vocal on that as well and that makes things stand out."

January 28th 2012:

“…I spent quite a lot of this week listening to garage compilations like ‘Chocolate Soup for Diabetics’. I can highly recommend that one. Volume four is the one that I’ve got currently on rotation on my record player. And also ‘Pebbles volume two’ of the Pebbles collection and for whatever reason there’s a similar atmosphere to Heavy Petting Zoo’s 'Deathproof'. Which I think is a majorly high compliment. I played this on last week’s programme, and I’m trying to play as much new stuff or different tracks as possible, so when things get repeat plays it’s a real sign of absolute favour or me being totally besotted with the tracks. Lucky them ‘ey. That’s called deathproof, they’re from Swansea and they may be listening to the programme. If they are I hope they’re well and I hope they’re enjoying what they’re hearing around their stuff too, like I say is great.”

Saturday 21st April 2012:

"Again, just great. Heavy petting zoo from Swansea with Night Train. It has got a kind of unbridled sexual energy to it. I wasn’t going to bring it up, I don’t want to have sex with them, it just means there’s something. It has the kind of blues, the mojo thing within it. That makes it really interesting and ...let's move on swiftly"

Saturday 12th May 2012:

"That’s heavy petting zoo and Deathproof and it’s phenomenal. It has got the kind of, the smell of motorcycles about it, which I think is a good thing."
- BBC

Great band name and one who incorporate a dancing man into their set, a la Bez of the Happy Mondays. Their sound is pretty distant from that, at least on the track Deathproof we’ve been offered to review. Muddy guitar riffs; swampy, tinny drums; distorted, sexy female vocals simmering with reverb. It may sound rough around the edges, but everything’s in place to make these fellas and ladies a post-punk-garage-rock wet dream. It’s vaguely reminiscent of Yeah Yeah Yeahs, with all the stomp of the seventies thrown in for good measure. Well worth a look on this evidence. Look forward to more. SMR
- The Miniature Music Press

Great band name and one who incorporate a dancing man into their set, a la Bez of the Happy Mondays. Their sound is pretty distant from that, at least on the track Deathproof we’ve been offered to review. Muddy guitar riffs; swampy, tinny drums; distorted, sexy female vocals simmering with reverb. It may sound rough around the edges, but everything’s in place to make these fellas and ladies a post-punk-garage-rock wet dream. It’s vaguely reminiscent of Yeah Yeah Yeahs, with all the stomp of the seventies thrown in for good measure. Well worth a look on this evidence. Look forward to more. SMR
- The Miniature Music Press

If Heavy Petting Zoo were from east London rather than Swansea you'd have heard far too much about them by now. Yes, it's lo-fi garage, but only the demo quality recording suggests deliberate overfuzz of their coiled spring garage, economical unshowy riffage framing Amy Zachariah's Karen O-like holler. The rest of their recordings range from messy hiss to cocksure menace, all with its own frames of reference and internalised power. - Sweeping The Nation