Alex Cameron @ Gorilla, Manchester, 6 Dec

"Here's our contribution to the investigation into the straight white man. It's something that's still ongoing."

That's Alex Cameron's introduction to his track Marlon Brando. Released back in September, so long enough ago to not have been a direct response to the recent avalanche of evidence to suggest that the straight white male's immovable societal power is finally about to dissipate, it still suggests he's a man firmly in touch with the present. Yet stylistically, his songwriting harks back to the American heartland rock akin to Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty.

Cameron and the rest of his five-piece band arrive here fresh from an arena tour around the country with The Killers, with whom they were invited to write earlier in the year. As Cameron humorously recounts tonight, it was not because – as expected – Brandon Flowers thought Cameron's tracks needed work, but instead because Flowers himself needed help on his group's latest LP (Cameron co-penned five of its ten tracks).

The runaway success that Mac DeMarco has enjoyed is instructive; it tells us that fans of straightforward indie rock are absolutely crying out for genuine characters, for artists with appeal that goes beyond their music. Cameron appears destined for the same status, thanks partly to his smooth onstage demeanour and unabashed dance moves.

Said appeal, though, is also down in no small part to the man he refers to not as a friend or a bandmate, but as a business partner – saxophonist Roy Molloy. Several chants break out in his honour tonight, and he also keeps up a recent tradition of delivering a spoken word review of the stool he's been provided (he spends swathes of songs inactive, waiting for his solo to arrive).

Molloy earns his cult status, especially when he rips through his parts on Stranger's Kiss and the raucous Take Care of Business. Whether Cameron does quite the same, though, is a topic potentially open for debate. This show was moved at late notice from The Deaf Institute to Gorilla, which represents a doubling of capacity – and the place is nearly full tonight.

The crowd are only truly ignited, though, by the big singalongs. Cameron and Molly are undoubtedly "a pretty mean posse", by their own reckoning, but their delivery of cuts from Cameron's breakthrough LP Forced Witness is occasionally a touch too studied. Still, their sheer force of character works for the crowd tonight.