It’s Saturday night and I have a spare ticket for someone to accompany me to popular Melbourne soul band Saskwatch with Brisbane’s own indie pop Cub Sport, who’ve just recently released their debut album This Is Our Vice, and if that’s not enough, well, rockers The Good Sports are kicking the evening off, so what say you mobile contact list? Facebook friends?

I decided to really enjoy this night I would not utilise my spare ticket and enjoy the gig alone (who needs friends anyway!). It really is the best way to indulge in the vibe of the show anyway right?

The Good Sports kicked off around eight thirty and at least half of the crowd from the outside bar came inside to drink and watch.  I hadn’t heard of these guys before, but Facebook told me they have an album called Peak Performance, which I can only assume are the songs that they are performing tonight. Indie rock is an easy term to throw around, and sure you can label these guys that, but when the lead singer/guitarist throws out wild solos in each song, I started getting whiffs of My Morning Jacket, however the lo-fi riff’s and vocals give off touches of Thee Oh See’s. The songs are catchy, with a strong energy and halfway through the set you can see the audience start to allow these charms to get them dancing and applauding.

Cub Sport have been kicking some major goals recently having released their latest album This Is Our Vice to rave reviews, while also getting all sorts of overseas radio play (especially on the American college radio stations) as well as a 9# on the Australian iTunes album charts. People are starting to flock in now to catch the sounds of the indie synth pop band and one can now see the crowd getting their dance on as they pump through their new album and some of their older hits. The songs follow each other in a similar up-tempo rhythm that see’s lead singer Tim Nelson switching between guitar and key’s, while lead guitarist Zoe Davis brings the vocals together with her harmonies.

I was adamant I had a pretty good idea of what Saskwatch sounded like before coming to this show. It was a mixture of Sharon Jones soul mixed with a touch of reggae and blues, now I’m not one to admit I’m wrong very often, so perhaps I wont. By the chorus of the first song of the night, I’ll Be Fine, I realised I had heard this song a fair few times and had not realised that it was by them. It’s super catchy and upbeat but also a lot rockier than I thought they were. This applied to a fair chunk of the set as they jumped through their highly upbeat songs with quite heavy guitar sounds. It wasn’t until midway through when they played some of their back catalogue that I realised I wasn’t wrong (told you so) and they brought out the horns and the groove of the sounds I was familiar with from them. The crowd seemed to respond to the older songs more as well, as the dance floor started to bounce and sing along to the lyrics. I was a sweaty little mess coming out from the Triffid into the cool valley streets, rather content with my Saturday night. Who needs friends!

- Tom Harrison