Wild Cub at Triple Rock Social Club, Minneapolis (23 Sept 2017)

After three years away, they’ve decided to again get closer—

Nashville-based indie-rock band Wild Cub is finally back, with sophomore record Closer (Mom+Pop Music) and is on the road once more, with full bluster and a thunder clatter, stopping recently at the Triple Rock Social Club in Minneapolis.

The opener came in the form of one of our favorite Los Angeles electronic rock bands, Parade of Lights, putting the finishing touches on their follow-up to 2015’s Feeling Electric (Astralwerks), having released a few recent singles, as a taste of what’s to come. 

Despite the usual dim lighting of this particular venue, the foursome (Ryan Daly; Anthony Improgo; Randy Schulte; Michelle Ashley) shone bright with their irresistible mix of electro and indie rock on songs like ‘The Island’, the new ‘Victorious’, and biggest single, ‘Golden’, with Daly glad to not be playing here in the dead of winter, as they did their last time through.  “New album soon”, they promised.

Wild Cub roared out of the gate for their fifty-five minute set, beginning with the new ‘Clicks’ and clearly ready to show everyone what they’ve been up since they’ve been away, playing seven of the eleven tracks from the new record.

“‘It’s been a minute since we’ve been here—we’ve been tucked away in a cave making this record” singer/guitarist Keegan DeWitt noted, happy to see the turnout after a multi-year absence from the scene.

The band’s secret weapon is undoubtedly multi-instrumentalist Jeremy Bullock who can move to keys, guitar, or anything else, as the song demands, and embellish it distinctively while drummer Dabney Morris and bassist Harry West kept the bottom end and everything else, in check. 

Songs like ’Wild Light’ had a jungle-like rhythm while staying buoyant, with West’s bass line being the foundation of that song,  and the band is at heart, a bar band, so the venue seemed more than an ideal place to play to a mostly college-age crowd.

“We’ve waited a long time to come and show you these songs” DeWitt said after the new ’Magic’, also mentioning the other changes in his own life in the last three years- getting married and having a daughter.  The rhythmic grooves of ‘Thunder Clatter’, their biggest song to date, had people shaking and dancing, a shot of tropical-tinged indie-pop on a crisp early fall evening. 

By contrast, the closing ‘Go’ was a straight-ahead, chugging rocker, Springsteen-like in the chanting of its title, and steaming forward like a cruiser on the high seas, an exclamation point to their thirteen song performance.

‘Fire’ (on the setlist but not performed) would have been a nice addition, though it didn’t matter too much- Wild Cub already made the statement that they’re back out of the cave, and ready to rock live again.

Tour dates: