Cubs is a rock and roll band from Columbia, South Carolina. That’s the simplest way to put it. Egalitarian and openly collaborative by design, Cubs writes eclectic rock songs that brim with conviction. The quartet—guitarist and vocalist Joe Chang, bassist Chris Gardner, drummer and vocalist Jess Oliver, and keyboardist Evan Simmons—comes by that confidence honestly, its lineup dotted with all-stars from the music scenes of the Carolinas. Its songs are eloquent and elegantly crafted, and bristling with electricity, whether uptempo rockers recalling the Heartland’s finest or hazy ballads pulled from the sweltering South. Expert arrangements garland each song with subtle ornamental filigrees, giving cinematic depth to Cubs’s prismatic take on American music. Everything fits. Nothing is out of place. Not a speck of energy from any member goes to waste. Yes, this is a band. Of course these songs rock.
But the simplest answers don’t always reflect the whole picture. Broadly, Cubs is a product of the intertwining roots of the sprawling kudzu of networks that covers the Southeast’s independent music community. Bonded by shared experience (and, in the case of two of its members, marriage), the members of Cubs put that community first, reckoning with their place in it not only as musicians but as human beings—playing music for people, yes, but also helping them celebrate and grieve and connect with one another. Melodic and introspective, the band’s songs resonate with profound themes and erudite emotions that only come with this kind of maturity: loss, but buoyed by hope; defiance, but not without compassion; darkness, but always with an eye toward light. Yes, this is a band, but one as concerned with being good people and uplifting their community as writing good songs. Of course these songs rock, because they’re rooted in intentionality and in embracing the small parts that make moments matter.