Buffalo Killers

Detail: four albums on as many different labels had started to take its toll on the band he founded in 1999. Gabbard, and his younger brother, guitarist Andrew, were ready for a change and disbanded the group late in 2005.

Reborn as Buffalo Killers, featuring a slimmed down trio with former Shams keyboardist Joseph Sebaali switching to drums and the elder Gabbard taking the opportunity to move from guitar to bass (a move he secretly coveted for years), the band is the next step in the Gabbard brothers' musical evolution.

In reinventing themselves, the band mix a little of the old with the new, taking the juiciest bits from their self-described "swamp Rhythm and Blues" style and enhancing new tighter Rock compositions with occasional bright BritPop melodies and harmonies.

But this isn't polished Pop. The Killers keep it raw, choosing to drench their new songwriting with the hallmarks of their earlier fuzz guitars, loose arrangements and Zach Gabbard's possessed howls.