Live Review: Custard, The Goon Sax

Young local trio The Goon Sax don't seem daunted at all by the large throng before them in Woolly Mammoth Mane Stage's dark and dingy confines, and they're in good form from the outset having recently wrapped up touring obligations for their debut album Up To Anything. They ply a distinctly Brisbane-sounding style of jangly indie, yet while you could write a thesis about the links between these guys and tonight's headliner they feel beholden to no one sound, songs like Sweaty Hands and Boyfriend as coy and vulnerable as they are catchy and immediate. Co-frontman James Harrison's father John comes on to play slide during the wonderfully congenial Home Haircuts - which finds Louis Forster at his most charmingly goofy - before Harrison junior takes the reins to finish strongly with poignant insecurity odes Sometimes Accidentally and Icecream (On My Own).

Since prodigal Brisbane funsters Custard first reunited in 2009 after a decade-long hiatus we've enjoyed them playing big rooms all around town, but this is not only their first show in a smaller club since the reformation but also their first Fortitude Valley gig - the precinct being where they cut their teeth in the early-'90s - and it all feels somehow right as they open with the chugging Pluto (Pts 1 & 2), which unveils the first of many singalong choruses to follow. They dive deep into their relentless reservoir of catchy nuggets from the outset, tracks like Anatomically Correct, Alone and Hit Song rushing by in a feel-good blur of hooks and melody. Custard have revisited the studio since getting the band back together and a stream of tracks from last year's Come Back, All Is Forgiven opus prove that the sessions were bountiful, with We Are The Parents (Our Parents Warned Us About), If You Would Like To and Brisbane nostalgia ode 1990's all getting an equal reception to their older counterparts. Not much is offered in terms of production or stage show - bassist Paul Medew as stoic as ever on his side of the stage, while guitarist Matthew Strong has reined in the tomfoolery of old to leave attention firmly and squarely on frontman Dave McCormack during a buoyant take on Pack Yr Suitcases and a reined-in rendition of The New Matthew. Suddenly drummer Glenn Thompson swaps spots with McCormack and revels in the spotlight for the triumvirate of Contemporary Art, Warren Rd and Music Is Crap, his style slightly more stately but still gently sardonic. Orchids In Water and Queensland University again represent the newer material with distinction, before they finish with a cavalcade of bangers in Girls Like That (Don't Go Fo Guys Like Us), Pinball Lez and crowd favourite Apartment, which brings out some dance moves among the fans that haven't been unleashed in many a moon.

There's been a lot of love in the room all night and the by now well-lubricated throng bray tunelessly for an encore, soon delighting in the handclap-heavy Lucky Star and the always madcap Ringo (I Feel Like) - tonight complete with long talking interlude, kick-drum solo and off-key falsettos - but it's old fave Rockfish Anna that really delights the older acolytes in attendance when appearing in the mix. Even now there's lots left in the tank, with the wry Singlette seguing into early proto-indie rocker Bedford before eternal live fave Caboolture Speed Lab brings it all home with a handclapping frenzy in one gloriously messy finale. Times change and none of these guys live in Brisbane these days, but put them together as Custard and they're still defiantly hometown heroes, one of our finest-ever musical exports.