Live Review: King Tuff, Cannon, Screaming Match, Thighmaster

Thigh Master's lo-fi garage sound fits comfortably into the current Brisbane musical landscape, but there's an interesting difference here. Instead of the more common blues or explicitly pop elements, these guys are producing jangly, slightly discordant and very British rock, with a distinctly '70s minor-key depression. Think Bauhaus with the Goth turned down. The tone is nice, particularly the bass, and while the song structures are basic, the band make a fairly compelling case for simplicity.

After a somewhat overlong delay Screaming Match take to the stage, surf-rock licks occasionally popping out from under the driving garage sound, as the two vocalists (Sarah Byrne and Andrea Lam) trade reverb-drenched lines loudly back and forth. There's an endearing looseness between songs – rambling comments and backchat to each other and the sound desk – a novel change from platitudes and quiet professionalism. A few sound problems mar the set, feedback and overloud peaks at the top end, but it's pretty fun stuff regardless.

Cannon launch into their set with gusto, significantly more energetic and even more raucous than the night's other bands. Their songs are short and sweet, slices of punk with more enthusiasm than aggression, and their heavy gigging schedule has definitely tightened their performance over the last year. Vocalist Callan Murray pours himself into the songs as the set goes on and it's contagious – soon half the crowd has joined in, dancing and throwing themselves around the room. Lyrics and most of the fine details are lost in the buzzy mix that, while suitable for the bands tonight, is still proving a touch wearing by this point.

It's almost midnight by the time King Tuff finally begin, and while the crowd is disappointingly small for a weekend international gig, there's still a lot of excitement in the room. The dancing that started with Cannon continues on here as King Tuff win the crowd over immediately with a high energy start. They're a noticeably tighter band than the enthusiastic but loose supports tonight and their experience shows from the very first song. The tone is warmer, the tempo changes precise and in between the catchy hooks that make up the bulk of the tracks there's a whole lot of impressive shredding going on.

The guitar work is definitely the most interesting part of the evening, with a great tone and interesting playing that avoids the standard solo clichés. A few longer stretches of guitar solos does see the crowd stop moving, but catchy single Alone And Stoned gets them moving again and the jaunty Connection follows on nicely. It's all over far too soon though, clocking in at well under half an hour and while some fans may be content just to catch a favoured band, it's disappointing to see a headliner put in such a half-baked set.