Live Review: Grenadiers, The Pits, Jungle City

Friday saw the launch of Cheapskate at the Ed Castle, Adelaide’s newest regular Friday night live music destination with a strong focus on live local and interstate garage, indie and psychedelic bands.

Local trio Jungle City are the first to take the stage and do so in raw and energetic fashion, pumping through a great array of modern rock akin to Royal Blood. Vocalist Brenton Wilson’s performance is hard-hitting and dynamic as he uses his melodic guitar work as a guide for his vocal lines, more than adequately illustrating his abilities to sing like a quintessential frontman and enticing a majority of the party-goers inside to witness the rock’n’roll carnage taking place. Not to be outshone, Kaileb Rothwell shows depth and creativity in his basslines and gives a performance that rocks so hard his lead keeps popping out.

The Pits provide a more subdued and melancholic performance; this inability to match Jungle City’s energy is unfortunately the band’s downfall, regardless of how much talent the band possess with their brand of slow, alternative, grunge and garage rock. Though the songs contain depth and a solid sense of musicianship, it's too easy to got lost in the surrounds rather than be drawn to the onstage antics.

This however, can’t be said about headlining act Grenadiers, who bring the heaviest flavours to the table. Screaming vocals and heavy half-time rock riffs are often features that could see this band on bills with bigger hardcore and punk bands. Grenadiers are a great way to wrap up live portion of the opening night of Cheapskate.