Live Review: Wolf & Cub

Perseverance pays off when pushing through the crowd and infiltrating the circle of fear at the front of the stage to secure a front stalls posi. Wolf & Cub are in full flight and this gig is certainly well attended. The band rock with one drummer these days, Joel Carey, and he's a powerful force. If you closed your eyes you could imagine an octopus pummelling with eight sticks, and the patterns are very T Rex (one song is a dead ringer for Rock On).

The band's other Joel (Byrne), Wolf & Cub frontman, responds to some heckling. “What the fuck is Eighty Eights? Oh, The Scare! Wrong. Fucking. Band!” He sounds annoyed but, considering his band is rounded out by two former The Scare members – bassist Wade Keighran and multi-instrumentalist Brock Fitzgerald – his irritation seems a little OTT. The pair's recruitment into Wolf & Cub would obviously have attracted the curiosity of their previous band's fans. And The Scare were one of this country's finest prospects in their day. This Mess is an absolute ball-tearer and perfectly demonstrates Wolf & Cub's full potential. They really should be where Tame Impala are, so what's holding them back?    

The last beer from the band's rider is tossed from the stage to be marked by a thirsty punter. “Eighty Eights!” shouts the same Scare fan and this time Keighran and Fitzgerald grumble insults about their previous outfit's song and how they wish to forget it. “Seven Sevens!” yells another and we soon find out why Wolf & Cub never play this awesome, twisted track live when Byrne struggles to recall the riff before promising they'll treat us with it “one day”. Byrne has a belt clip keychain dangling from one loop, complete with set of keys somewhat like a high school bogan. He has charisma, but doesn't flaunt it and there's something about the way these musicians move about onstage that evokes limbo: caught somewhere between where they wanna be, where they are and where they deserve to be. Byrne gets excited when he spots an old school W&C tee in the crowd and points the wearer out.

Their latest Heavy Weight album is world class and up there with Wolf & Cub's best. This should be flying high and strutting with cocksuredness, but instead they seem resigned tonight.