Author Archives: brightonmusicblog

Fifteen Years of Green Door Store

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Normally when you see something about a new venue opening, it’s not really a new venue, it’s just an old one with a new name: Waterbear Music Bar is just Latest Music Bar with a new badge. Patterns used to be Audio but some older Brightonians remember it as the Escape, and even more people still talk about Quarters as The Zap. The Hope & Ruin used to be just The Hope (but it’ll always be the Pig in Paradise to me). Before it became Folklore Rooms the upstairs room at the Quadrant was a firm fixture for alternative escape gigs (even if for the rest of the year it just hosted comedy). Fifteen years ago this week though Brighton got a proper brand new venue, and it’s fair to say that the impact it made to the local music scene was massive, and almost definitely one of the reasons I started Brighton Music Blog later that year. On 7th January 2011 Cold Pumas played the launch party for Green Door Store, and since then they haven’t looked back.

To celebrate their fifteenth birthday, over the course of January they’re putting on a free gig every Saturday – on 10th January Silver Gore, Lemonsuckr and Lonnie Gunn play, on 17th there’s Thistle, Goodbye and Little Grandad, on 24th Hutch, Trip Westerns and Lelamb, and on 31st January Complete Snake, Tempers Fray and Landmine.

Here’s a big bunch of photos of Brighton bands at Green Door Store, from Brakes playing their second ever event in January 2011 (we weren’t there on the launch night) through to Kate Peaches in August last year. Happy Birthday Green Door Store!

Brighton Music Blog 25 for 25 : the top five

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5. Goodbye / Meat (single)
You only get one debut single, so as frustrating as it was as waiting for Goodbye to release something, you can understanding them making sure the time was right. After over a year of waiting, Meat came out at the start of December, packed with shimmering crystalline guitars and emotional vocals. The only way is up for Goodbye

4. Fatboy Slim / Satisfaction Skank (single)
If it felt like a long wait for Goodbye’s first single, it pales into insignificance compared to the length of time from when I first heard Satisfaction Skank to it’s release date last week. In it’s original form Rockafeller Skank came out in June 1998, but the story goes that after about six months Norman Cook had got bored of playing the original so came up with this bootleg. I might have heard it on the dancefloor at the Heavenly Jukebox at Turnmills on 14th November when Norman Cook DJed , or maybe at one of Skint’s nights at The End. I always assumed it would never get released, but this surprise release has made me reshuffle my whole end of year list

3. Van Zon / O Messiah (from All Things, All One, Aglow EP)
There’s an oft quoted line from an old film that goes “Live Fast, Die Young and have a good looking corpse”, and so it is that Van Zon, who took the top spot in our end of year list last year can now only be referred to in the past tense, leaving nothing but one incredible EP and glorious memories from their live performances. What a perfect legacy though, going their separate ways without having put a foot wrong along the way

2. Big Long Sun / Fast Like I Like My Money (from whatever (whatever) album)
Big Long Sun were just listed as the singular Jamie Broughton when they appeared at number nine in last year’s list, but what a journey they’ve had since then. Back then they’d only started playing live as an eight piece for a month or so; Fast forward twelve months and they released second album whatever (whatever) in July, with a third on the way (the first single, the brilliant My Stars Aligning, out last month). Jamie has also managed to release other material under the name between the air as well as being part of Radio Anorak and touring extensively. I’m exhausted just thinking about his output, but he shows no sign of slowing any time soon

1. The New Eves / Highwayman (from The New Eve is Rising album)
Our top pick this year is The New Eves – a band who you can believe in, a band who you can be a fan of before you’ve even heard of their music, a band with a manifesto (committed to record on the opening track of their album). They’re rock, they’re folk, they’re punk, but their music is very much their own. Music this visceral carries you along with it, and I’m happy to have been witness to the journey so far

Brighton Music Blog 25 for 25 : 10 – 6

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We’ve reached the Top Ten in our countdown, and today we’ve numbers ten through to six:

10. Rose Io / Autumn Automaton (from Autumn Automaton LP)
Rose Io isn’t really like anyone else on our list. Most bands out there aren’t sitting down and writing songs about robots or wizards or death that sound like nursery rhymes or lost folk songs. Despite this, Rose’s album Autumn Automaton was one of our favourites this year, unashamedly weird and uncompromising in its vision

9. Opal Mag / Wasting (single)
Opal Mag has released a number of singles in 2025, each building on the last. Her live sets have brought to the fore how much she’s developed, not just in terms of being a front person in her band, but also in the material yet to be released and the breadth of styles that now covers. With a fair wind and a bit of luck 2026 could just be her year

8. Hutch / Rustle (single)
Just the one single from Hutch this year, although there is an album in the pipeline (they played a fundraiser for it in October). There’s been plenty of gigs and plenty of side projects going on too so as they don’t lose their spot as one of Brighton’s most loved bands, packing them in in December with slots at Flip Top Head’s Rolling Sixes night, Mumfest, Folklore Room’s Christmas Christmas Party, and from what I can see, multiple gigs on New Year’s eve

7. Trip Westerns / Showdown Shadow (from Post Hunk EP)
Trip Western’s Post Hunk EP was one of this year’s highlights, their first release since 2023’s eponymous EP. On paper Spaghetti Western themed surf psych could feel like a novelty, but Trip Western’s commitment to the cause – all the way down to Stetsons and facial hari – combined with fantastic songs and thrilling live performances – mean that they’re anything but

6. ELLiS·D / Homecoming Queen (from Spill EP)
One of the big music sites put Ellis D as their live act of the year, and I’m in firm agreement. 2025 has been the year when literally years of hard work have started to pay dividends. We included an early demo of Homecoming Queen on the blog all the way back in 2019 and since then it’s grown to become one of the highlights of their live sets – if you haven’t got a ticket for their gig at the Prince Albert on 5th Feb, then get on it, because it’ll sell out sooner rather than later

Brighton Music Blog 25 for 25 : 15-11

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Day three of our twenty five for twenty five, counting down from fifteen to eleven. There is a video on youtube for the Lambrini Girls track, but because of the nature of it, it won’t embed

15 : White Magic for Lovers / The Boy from the Bookshop (from The Book of Lies album)

14 : Memorials / In the Weeds (single)

13 : Ideal Living / Come to Me (from Big House EP)

12 : Flip Top Head / What I Really Want to Know (from Trilateral Machine EP)

11 : Lambrini Girls / Cuntology 101 (Peaches remix) (single)

Brighton Music Blog 25 for 25 : 20-16

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Following on from Yesterday’s post, here’s part two of our end of year top 25:

20 : George Bloomfield / Just don’t feel the same (from Now & Then album)

19: Projector / It Surely Has Been Hell (from Contempt album)

18: Helen Ganya / Share Your Care (from Show Your Care album)

17: Welly / It’s not like this in France (from Big in the Suburbs album)

16: Lemonsuckr / H.E.A.T. (single)

Brighton Music Blog 25 for 25 : 25-21

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Somewhat later than I’d originally intended, the Brighton Music Blog 25 from 25 countdown starts now. The reasons for the delay aren’t completely our fault – two of our top five are releases which only came out in December, which meant re-jigging things to accommodate. So without any further ado, here’s numbers 25-21:

25 : Archie Sagers / Fistral (from Dreams along the Shore album)

24 : Cubzoa / Buckle Up (from Unfold in the Sky album)

23 : Maximilian / Long Time Gone (single)

22 : Radio Anorak / Cows and Chickens (from Rememberer album)

21 : Ditz / Taxi Man (from Never Exhale album)

 

Goodbye / Meat single launch at Bella Union Shop

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Goodbye‘s debut single feels like it’s been a long time coming – At their first gigs back in Summer 2024 they already felt like a band who had been around for a while. They had songs, they had stage presence, they had a fully formed sound that takes some bands years to establish. I guess what they didn’t have at that point was a reputation, so they’ve been working hard since then and the time is finally right for them to share their first release. Meat has been a staple of their live sets for as long as I remember and appeared on the live cassette that came out back in March as a way of getting some music out into the world before a proper release. The band’s PR calls it dreampop, but there’s definite 80s / 90s indie sound to their guitars (I’m sure I heard someone that they’re named after a song by The Sundays but I can’t find anything online to support that, so don’t quote me on that).

In lead vocalist Megan Wheeler’s own words: “‘Meat’” sort of touches on the idea that some men see women as lustful objects rather than human beings, ogling them as meat. Sometimes you catch a stranger’s eye and they look right through you, as though they are stripping you of everything you are, your personality, skills, talent reduced to just meat. In my experience the majority of women I know have felt this in some form so I kept the lyrics deliberately vague and open to interpretation.”

Last night the band played a launch at the new Bella Union Shop, supported by Atticomatic. The room was packed so I’m glad I got down early for a good view to have the night captured for posterity.

 

Meat by Goodbye is out now

 

George Bloomfield / Now & Then album launch

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On Tuesday night, George Bloomfield launched his new album Now & Then at Alphabet with a full eight piece band, supported by Soft Top (who also had a cast of thousands on stage). George and his band played the album roughly in order, with a few non-album tracks tucked in the middle. In lieu of an encore the closed with Space Between which came out a couple of years ago.

We were down the front with our camera to catch the action (click through to view large):

 

Tinderbox Presents…

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If you’re anything like me, you probably aren’t really aware of Tinderbox. Maybe if you were paying attention you might have seen a poster for this week’s Human Interest gig at the Hope & Ruin and thought they were promoters. Actually, Tinderbox is a non profit artist development and music production house, based in Sussex and funded by the Arts Council. In their own words the “exist to make sure cool, diverse music keeps getting made by cool, diverse working artists, who increasingly can’t afford to get into the studio”. The team behind Tinderbox are made up of Lucy Sheehan from Projector, producer / engineer Ben Hampson, who’s been involved an impressive list of bands from Brighton and beyond, and Suzi Ireland, a music industry professional with decades of experience across management, promotion and journalism.

They’re putting on the gig on Wednesday to support some bands they’ve worked with over the last year – Human Interest, That Band Called Susan and Brighton’s Atticomatic. Keep your eyes peeled for future Tinderbox gigs which they’re hopefully putting on a couple of times a year, and if you’re a musician looking to advance your career, maybe look them up and get in touch with them

Mutations Festival 2025

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This weekend was Mutations Festival, and Saturday night’s headliner was local heroes Lambrini Girls. Overall though Brighton felt a bit under represented, with less than 10% given over to local bands. On Friday, you couldn’t have watched both Fickle Friends and Ditz because they were in clashing slots (although they are very different bands). On Saturday Ladylike opened up proceedings at Chalk. Lemonsuckr proved to be so popular that I spent half their set stuck in the queue outside Dust and when I did get in they were struck down with technical difficulties. Because both of the timings of both of those sets, I didn’t manage to get to Alphabet for My Precious Bunny, although I heard good things afterwards, and Opus Kink were on way past my bedtime. Overall though, it was a great festival – they probably needed a few more small stages open in the afternoon before the bigger venues opened up, and the weather was very forgiving, the bill overall was diverse enough to not get boring. Here’s to next year (with hopefully a few more Brighton bands on the bill)