Unless this is your first visit to this site, it’s probably no surprise that we’re big supporters of Brighton’s thriving music scene. So when a one day festival announced showcasing some of the best local talent we jumped straight in and bought an early bird ticket quicker than it would take to count all the members of Fliptop Head. When Saturday came we had an ambitious plan to try and see a dozen bands. What the day did highlight is just what a blind spot we have when it comes to Brighton’s rock scene – It’s nothing personal, and the fact that the day had sold out indicates that there’s definitely a lot of support for music all across the spectrum.
Anyway, we kicked off early with Trip Westerns at Pipeline, who we’d seen at Green Door Store just over a week before where the ticket price for that gig was the same price as the early bird ticket. Minutes in and we’d broken even already. When they finished it was a sprint up to the Hope & Ruin, to catch the last five minutes of Soft Top‘s set and then enough time for a trip to the bar and to secure a prime viewing spot for the ridiculously good Van Zon. Being only a few doors up we thought we’d be lucky enough to get into Opal Mag’s performance, but we were beaten to it by dozens of other people. Technically I was in – it went to one in / one out straight after me – but we didn’t even make it down the spiral staircase. Reports from others were that they were fantastic and are going from strength to strength. No matter – it was off to Green Door next just in time for Moon Idle, and then Brighton Music Blog faves Hutch who peppered their set with new songs and old favourites. Then it was back down to Pipeline to catch a little bit of Georgie Moon, although we couldn’t stay for long because Woody Green at Folklore Rooms was next on our list. With a mere 60 capacity it was unsurprisingly packed out, so you can’t tell from the photos that Nina Winder-Lind from the New Eves was on cello, making a beautiful set even more so.
After a little break for food and warmer clothes we found ourselves back at Pipeline, and made it to the front for Ladylike‘s performance, which felt more assured and intimate than when we saw them supporting Lime Garden last month. Folklore Rooms next – learning our lesson from earlier in the day and getting in a whole set ahead of Ellis D, and catching Glasshouse Red Spider Mite in the process. As with their single launch at Green Door Store a couple of weeks back, they were bathed in red light which fitted their dreampop shoegaze perfectly. Of all the acts of the day, we were most looking forward to Ellis D, who first featured here in a New Music post back in 2019, but who we’d never managed to catch live. These days he’s the cool big brother of the Brighton bands, making it all look so easy, and playing a sweaty, electrifying set despite a few technical issues. I did have in my plan to see Ideal Living and Fliptop Head – easily two of Brighton’s best bands right now – playing later at Rossi Bar, but by that point I was ready to hit the hay. What a day. What a festival. What a town. Cheers Homegrown – here’s to next year (hopefuly)!
The EP was produced by Bobby Smiles, who’s an artist in his own right as well as a producer. “He’s amazing to work with – Some of us played in Tin Man so we worked with him on those recordings, and Charlie and Owen also play in Soft Top, and they worked with him too. He was on Our Family Dog a few years ago as well. He’s got around, but he’s also one of the nicest guys. He’s recording a lot of Brighton bands at the moment.” It feels like there’s a really strong Brighton Scene at the moment – you’ve mentioned bands you and Bobby Smiles are linked with, Flip Top Head are touring with Ideal Living, you go and see one band and the first three or four rows are full of members of other bands. It feels like the Brighton scene is the strongest it’s been in a long time. How does it feel from your perspective? “For us it feels like we’re just hanging out with mates. We’re really lucky, we started gigging just after lockdown and were ready to go once everything opened up again. We played gigs every three days for the first four months, but we weren’t the only ones – everyone had that energy and hunger to get out and about. You meet people and everyone becomes friends and then you’re all just doing it together. If they’re not playing in the bands, they’re working at the venues, at the bar or booking the shows. Also you play with loads of bands and everyone inspires each other, and that’s a beautiful thing. You go and see a band like Ideal living at Green Door before Christmas, and seeing those guys, you’re like Wow, there’s something really amazing going on. The competition is FIERCE! – We’ve been lucky enough to go and play elsewhere and meet a bunch of other bands that are local to those areas and there’s such great vibes, but then you come back to Brighton and there’s things like Mumfest and 234 – the standard of bands in Brighton is so high. We’ve got to try and be the best we can be. And everyone’s doing their own thing, it’s not like everyone’s overlapping, they’re supporting each other, it’s just wonderful. There’s always new bands cropping up as well. Van Zon are the new ones to watch. And Moon Idle (who supported Van Zon on the night we met up). We played at Mutations, and they played just before us. They’re a really cool band. One of those ones where you see a band and you say to yourself give this band a bit of time and they could be huge.”
Firstly a shoutout to what I like to think of as the Old Guard. Fatboy Slim DJed at the Prince Albert when it felt like it was under threat from a planning application. The Go! Team proved they’re as sharp as ever with their album Get Up Sequences Part two, Electric Soft Parade surprised everyone with their release of Avenue Dot which nobody was expecting (and Thomas White also played his first solo gig in ten years), and Steve Mason dropped his fifth solo album Brothers & Sisters (which he showcased with a gig in Worthing last week).
There’s also a number of acts who have been in the music industry for a while but are releasing under new names. Electralane’s Verity Susman has teamed up with Wire’s Matthew Simms to form Memorials, whose double album Music for Film showed their skills to be far more expansive than either of their other bands work. It’s still not too late to catch them live this year – they’ll be 
Brighton has long welcomed people from outside it’s borders – those who claim that you’re not a proper Brightonian if you weren’t born here could do well to remember that Brighton was just a small fishing village with a population of less than 2,000 before the Prince Regent turned up and had the Pavilion built, so very few of these people can claim to have families dating back more than a couple of generations. Which leads me to possibly Brighton’s brightest star at the moment – CMAT has just played four nights in a row in Dublin, but kicked off her tour with a hometown gig at Chalk, with banter between songs about Lewes Road, and Penelope Isles Jack Wolter / Cubzoa on guitar. Now’s also a good time to give a shout out to ĠENN (originally from Malta), Ciel (Netherlands and Spain), and Wax Machine (Brazil via Italy) who are all making the place even more special.
At the completely opposite end of the music spectrum to Lambrini Girls, there’s a couple of ambient albums that have soothed my ears this year. Ironically, the first is from the sister of Lambrini Girls’ lead singer – Eva Lunny’s Sonics & Meditations, equal parts harp and electronica, came out in the spring on Bella Union’s Private Pressings imprint and is still on heavy rotation in these parts. There was also Guided by Horses by Sam Organ (sometimes seen as a third of Physics House Band), a lovely pastoral work inspired by the South Downs.
My current enthusiasm for the local music scene comes from by being at gigs recently and recognising so many people from other bands in the audience, seeing how they support each other – collaborating on each other’s releases, playing support slots, and just showing up to watch them play – all of which makes a big difference. Most recently, at last weekend’s Ideal Living gig at the Green Door Store I spotted members of Fliptop Head, The New Eves, Van Zon and Hutch in the crowd. There were probably more I didn’t spot too. All of these bands would be worth seeing independently, regardless of who they were friends with, but regularly spotting people supporting each other feels quite life affirming. I imagine most of them will be back 
I also wanted to give a shoutout to a bunch of other great bands I’ve loved this year ARXX and their album Ride or Die (who are have 
Brighton Music Blog 