Wolf And Cub are an Adelaide four piece, made up of Joel Byrne on guitar, Thomas Mayhew on vocals, Joel Carey on bass and Adam Edwards on drums and percussion, and they produced an interesting night of psychodelic sounds, fazer effects and wah wahs. They created a guitar-lick-dominated set, with experimental sounds and strong vocals delivered an entertaining evening for all involved, especially fans of Pink Floyd, experimental new wave, The Doors and Jimi Hendrix.
I got to The Zoo early, to find a few punters lined up. I wasn’t sure what to expect although I had caught a part of Wolf and Cub’s gig at last year’s Big Day Out. I thought it would be pretty cool to see them in a more intimate setting. They were hand picked by Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age) to go on tour, and since they have also shared the stage with the likes of The Killers and Wolfmother, I was quietly excited.
Brisbane’s premier alternative band venue, The Zoo, was surprisingly empty when the first band jumped on stage. The Butcher Birds are a four piece band made up of Jacinta Walker, Stacey Coleman, Steven Tronc and Joanna Nilson from Brisbane. It was a shame there weren’t more people around, as the Butcher Birds delivered an awesome set of solid grundge, and pop rock anthems to a few dedicated punters who didn’t leave the front stage section for the entire evening.
Mercy Arms produced a progressive rock, post-mod sound. Their look was simular to that of The Smiths and The Cure with black, 80’s-style, cut jackets, shoulder pads and all, as well as teased hair and painted fingernails. Their performance was tight, and they got the crowd bopping along and cheering, with the odd wolf whistle between songs, the crowd’s way of showing their appreciation.
The indie rock band from Sydney played a noisy set, but poor sound quality let them down. The band and the audience alike had to deal with untimely feedback and over compensated guitar screeching. The varying sounds Mercy Arms produced were not justified and the mix felt wrong. The music got louder then softer throughout the set. Instruments on stage that you would have expected to be quieter in the mix were really loud. The vocals would diminish then would feedback, the lead guitar going from unrecognizable to unbearably loud.
The three rows at the front of the gig didn’t seem to be bothered, maybe the off stage sound was ok. I was at the back of the room, this usually being a great spot for cool acoustics at The Zoo. The crowd was still quite thin and some people left during Mercy Arms’ set.
Just before the main act came on, the crowd that had been their previously filtered back in, filling the venue back up. The crowd was a fairly chilled bunch; an alternative mixed ages with cool, laid back types, sporting retro clothing and funky hair cuts. I headed down the front to what had now become a nine or so row packed crowd.
Wolf and Cub walked on just before midnight. Quite a different line up to the average funk, new wave, rock band, Wolf and Cub play with two drummers, bassist and a guitarist who reminded me of the guitarist from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, both in playing style and looks.
Just back from London, Wolf and Cub are now back touring Aussie turf. In Brisbane Wolf and Cub played songs from their self titled EP Wolf and Cub recorded in Adelaide mixed in Glasgow, released through Dot Dash in 2004, and when played live, it was received with a warm reception from the audience. Songs from Thousand Cuts got the crowd rocking. They also broke out some new songs from their debut album Vessels; Steal their Gold, March of Clouds and Rozalia Bizarre were definite highlights, as they were reproduced immaculately and together in their live set. They had a post punk electro, new wave sound that some in the crowd believed to be Beatle- inspired. Their songs really pleased the swelling crowd, who responding with large cheers and enthused applause in between each tune. Their latest single This Mess got a great response from the multitudes.
All in all, it was a fantastic night of unusual rock from this rocking Adelaide band, who have great things on the horizon.
