Live Review. I Was A Cub Scout - 93 Feet East - 28th November

People are getting better at things at younger ages these days. You have your Theo Walcott’s and Wayne Rooney’s; your David Cameron’s; your Andrew Murray’s and even your Huw Edwards’. All of whom boast a reasonable amount of power in their fields at a relatively young age compared to contemporary standards. It always used to be like this though – think Napoleon – but things tailed off with education and experience replacing inate skills. The absurdity.

The slight turn-around makes sense though. Natural talent combined with increasingly terrifyingly powerful science and technology will soon mean it is children, rather than adults dominating all spheres of the world. Maybe.

Anyway, new-ish duo I Was A Cub Scout, as with the apparently-good-but-possibly-just-novelty Tiny Masters Of Today and the excellent Be Your Own Pet (among others, obviously, but ya know, time/space etc) continue the trend of people being better at things younger. Of course, to bang on about their ludicrous youth is crude and even patronising, but it’s interesting nonetheless no? No? Fine. The music then…

Electro-y, emo-y, disco-pop-y darkness is the main agenda. Dark Saddle Creek moments are an obvious reference point. The most interesting thing about them though was the quality and use of the drummer (whose name I cannot find anywhere). Awesome he was, considering how young… Haha, a joke, of course, but he is bloody good. If it wasn’t for him I hazard daringly that the Scout would be rather dull.

That’s a stupid thing to say probably, because they do have him and he fills all the gaps superbly and acts as a alternative focal point for the band. Someone or something exceptional is required in any half decent rock-duo I tend to find. Jack White is a master of the art and the Lightning Bolt percussion defies belief.

Neither of these heights are scaled, yet, but they have potential and exhuberance galore. Todd, the lead singer, is an energetic ball of hair and self-taught dance moves who yelps into his mic atop his synthetic beats or guitar repetitions and seems to love the whole experience. Their youth as a band, rather than as people, plus their obvious talent would seem to be their main advantages. I Was A Cub Scout are thus very worthy indeed of a ‘watch this space’ tag.