"I guess you don't need foreigners like us coming here and telling you: it's (expletive) cold here. You know that already, that's why you brought those big (expletive) coats. How do you live here?" vocalist-guitarist Gary Lightbody wondered early on during the Scottish band's sold-out show at Burton Cummings Theatre.

They are from the other side of the Atlantic but the band has more in common with American indie-rock bands. Lightbody's songwriting, and even his voice, could be some of Lou Barlow's later Sebadoh material.

"It's a song about a stupefying hangover. That isn't a feeling you hope most kids can empathize with," he said.