The Tubs: October 15, 2026 Tubby’s

The Tubs at Tubby’s.  It was inevitable.  It was also WELL worth the wait.

This was the first show on The Tub’s tour supporting their truly excellent “Hard Life” (Merge). For the next month, they will be crisscrossing the US and Canada, bringing their high-energy blend of hook-laden jangle pop to venues east and west. Lucky for us, this didn’t feel like a tour opener.  The band was tight and high-energy from the jump.

The set started, just as the record does, with the one – two punch of “Hard Life” and “Who’s Gonna Love You Now,” which had the crowd fully invested and singing along immediately.  They played a good chunk of the new record as well as choice cuts from the previous two albums. The set closed with the no bullshit Rock of “Wretched Lie” off their first record,  “Dead Meat”. This evening was definitely on the short list of best shows I’ve seen this year. It was so much fun, I’m considering going down to NYC for the tour closing set at LPR on 11/11. I even bought a T-Shirt.  I haven’t even bought a Tubby’s T-Shirt yet.

In the days since the show, I’ve struggled to explain to people exactly why I loved it so much. While I was working on mixing it, it finally came into focus. There is something about The Tubs sound that hits me in a very primal way.   It pulls the same type of emotions I had as a kid when I was first really discovering my own music.  Lying in my room listening to WLIR/WDRE and hearing these absolutely perfect songs from bands like REM and Teenage Fanclub. Back when all I cared about was if a song registered with me directly and immediately. Back when my only criterion for enjoyment was whether it elicited an emotional response beyond my control, and before I complicated things by trying to quantify or explain those feelings. When this was over, I wasn’t trying to explain to my son that the band is “a sort of harsh noise project inspired by minimal techno and Indian drone”.  None of those pretenses.  It’s four guys playing instruments and one guy singing about what he sees and feels. I was able to access the core memories of simply hearing and loving music without having to intellectualize it. I could just be in it.

I recorded this from the usual spot in the back with the MK22’s and a board feed from Tubby’s FOH engineer, Wil.  This was a rocker, so play it loud!

Speaking of Wil, shout out to him for pulling off some truly Herculean sound guy shit when the board essentially crashed after the opener, and he had to rebuild the band’s presets from memory. Buy this guy a beer next time you see him!

Download and stream the complete show from the Live Music Archive!

The Tubs
2026-10-02
Tubby’s
Kingston, NY

Source: Scheops MK22 > KCY > PFA + SDB > SD MixPre 3 > SD (24/48) > Adobe Audition/Izotope 9 > Audacity Flac (lvl8) > Mp3Tag

Thanks to Tubby’s FOH engineer, Wil, for the board patch!

Recorded and produced by kliked for nyctaper.com

1. Hard Life
2. Who’s Gonna Love You Now?
3. Illusion
4. Illusion Pt. II
5. Narcissist
6. If You Don’t Love Me
7. Stoop To Me
8. Chain Reaction
9. Heaven or London
10. Banter
11. Freak Mode
12. One More Day
13. Wretched Lie

Support this excellent artist!
https://thetubs.bandcamp.com/

Support the venues bringing you interesting music!
https://www.tubbyskingston.com/music-calendar

Tags: kilked, The Tubs, Tubby's