Cub Scouts: Fri, December 7 @ Alhambra, Brisbane

Words by Scenewave Australia - Published on December 11, 2012

My mate Jack and I had the pleasure of attending local indie act Cub Scouts’ EP launch last Friday at Alhambra. The Brisbane 5 piece’s first release is titled Told You So, and it’s one of the better Australian EPs we’ve listened to this year.

Having already received a huge amount of buzz from Triple J for their first single “Evie”, the band has followed up the hype with the release of four other equally as upbeat and catchy tracks, and the reflective “Light Me Up” to finish. When we chatted to Cub Scouts’ marketing manager at the start of the night, he described Told You So as a ‘greatest hits EP’, and I tend to agree with the sentiment. The tracks are mature, well-polished and each track is as strong as the next. It’s definitely been hard to for me to pick a favourite at this stage.

Phoebe Starr supported Cub Scouts for their entire Australian and we caught a little of her show, namely her Little Red cover of “Rock It”, which was impressive. She has a pretty sensational vocal range and her onstage persona is likely to make her stand out in the future.

We chatted to a few of the band members before the gig – their shyness and modesty making it obvious that they are still very much getting used to the popularity and fame. They left their timid personalities by the bar when it was time for them to jump on stage, however, and delivered a confident and relaxed performance in front of the 300-odd Alhambrians. At times their onstage dancing was a bit of a dog’s breakfast, but I’ll let that slide considering the small stage they were playing on.

Some of the highlights were “Hands” – particularly when all the instruments cut out towards the end of the song, leaving the three harmonised voices to serenade the crowd before ripping into an exuberant finale. “Evie” was introduced as being written about Tim, the lead singer’s, dog, and was met with a very warm reception. Title track “Told You So” also went off, without a doubt one of the standouts from the record.

Cub Scouts finished off with an extended medley of “Say My Name” by Destiny’s Child, “Empire State Of Mind”, another Beyonce one I think, and some other one I haven’t heard since I got So Fresh The Hits of Summer 2000 (a gift…). Tim proclaimed after the rapturous applause, “I wish people cheered that loudly for songs that I wrote…” It was an awesome end to what was a great night of tunes, thanks to SGC Media for putting it all together!

Cub Scouts’ debut EP Told You So is available from here, for only $4.99! It’s also available on Rdio and Spotify if you’re that way inclined. But buy it.

And if you’re interested in our interview with Tim from last week you can check it out here!