Badfish @ Club Soda

As a Sublime tribute band, Rhode Island-based Badfish takes on the tricky task of satisfying diehard fans of the legendary 90's group from California and its late, great lead singer, Bradley Nowell.

I went to the show with one such hardcore aficionado. Our verdict was mixed. The set list was on point. Badfish relentlessly churned out crowd favourites like "Santaria," "Caress Me Down" and "Jailhouse," as audience members grooved, thrashed, sweated and smiled in approval.

The band had certainly done its homework. Their musicianship was tight and the songs sounded much like the originals. However the band lacked that prickly, edgy darkness that was characteristic of Sublime. Everything about them was a little bit softer – from their college-boy appearances to their apparently waning enthusiasm. It also often seemed that the songs lost intensity, as though the musicians, who’ve been covering Sublime since 2001, were ready to wrap the tunes up about halfway through.

You still have to hand it to lead singer and guitarist Pat Downes, who has some pretty big shoes to fill. His vocals bear a striking resemblance to Nowell’s (at least, from what you could hear through the muddy sound mix at Club Soda), and he wailed on his guitar with feeling.

But where Downes and the band shined the most was during their opening set. Under the name Scotty Don’t, the group showed that they write some pretty rocking material of their own, putting out punky ska tunes that sound a lot like...well...Sublime. While the band probably wouldn’t draw nearly as big a crowd performing as Scotty Don’t, sometimes it might be best just to be yourself.