Next week sees the return of The Great Escape, where we all get even less sleep than normal, and anywhere you could imagine a stage, and a few places you couldn’t, turn into venues for three days. It overshadows most other musical happenings in May, which is quite remarkable since May is also the month of Brighton Festival, so this post replaces our usual monthly gig preview. Continue reading
May is both the quietest month and the busiest month for gigs. It’s the busiest because The Great Escape hits town on the 17th turning every pub and street corner into a venue. We’ll be making a full blog post about who to see nearer the time. Aside from that though, things are pretty quiet , but we have found a few things that you might fancy.
Paper Hawk launch their new EP The Tide (which featured in yesterday’s new music post) at The Marlborough tomorrow night (Wed 2nd May). Support comes from Jacko Hooper and Josh McGovern.
Another single launch we spotted, also from a band who were in last night’s post, is Yakul‘s launch of their single Realigned. It takes place at Patterns on Wednesday 9th May, and Yakul are joined on the night by Isle of CC and Chloe Badur playing live and Tru Thoughts’ J Felix DJing.
A few days later than anticipated (aren’t we always apologising for late posts?) here’s a few of the gigs happening around town in August.
First up is a series of gigs at the Joker called “Wanna Hang?”. They’re taking place every Tuesday in August (so there’s been one already and the next is tomorrow night). The future gigs see headlines from Breathe Panel, The New Tusk and Beachtape, but there’s four bands on each night. Tickets are only a mere three pounds which strikes us as a bargain.
Next Sunday is what’s probably Brighton Music Blog faves grasshopper‘s last gig for a while. They’re on the bill with Murder Boys and Strange Cages at The Prince Albert.
The following night (Monday 14th August), Brighton Noise are also putting on a night at the Prince Albert. It’s headlined by 80’s Matchbox B-line disaster spin-off Piano Wire, and also has T House from Charlottefield / Sweet Williams on the line up, but we’re most interested in this gig because it’s the debut performance from Black Bunny, Thomas White’s new band. Continue reading
We don’t do gig previews that much any more, mainly because we don’t get out nearly as much as we used to. We’ve got a big feature coming, but it’s taking a little while to get together, so to tide you over until then, here’s a few gigs that have caught our eye over the coming month:
Tomorrow night (Monday 10th July), Bleeding Hearts almost celebrate their fifteen birthday at The Rialto. As they put it: “We’d planned to host an alldayer only to find out that our adversaries had used their telemeters to evil effect. Due to dimentional complications we will not be celebrating the actual anniversary but instead our inability to celebrate our longeveness.”. On the bill are Garden Centre, Academy of the Sun, Gary Goodman and Sam Cutting. Continue reading
In 2013 we must have seen IYES at least half a dozen times. Things have been a bit quieter in 2014 though – despite a few singles and remixes it was only last night that they played their first hometown gig of the year, supporting Game of Thrones actor turned R&B songsmith Raleigh Ritchie. Since we last saw them they’ve signed to Sony (you’ve probably heard their track Glow on the adverts for Sony phones), and they’re sounding better than ever. Support came from local lad Sam Jordan, whose set was running late which mean that IYES had to cut a few songs from their set. Hopefully they’ll be back soon with a headline gig when Glow gets released in February. Until then here’s our shots from the last night. Click through to view large:
Here at Brighton Music Blog we love a festival. The festival we’re writing about today though isn’t actually a music festival but a photography festival. Throughout October Brighton Photo Biennial and Brighton Photo Fringe have events all over town. The event within the festival we’re writing about is music related however – One of the exhibitions that forms part of Brighton Photo Fringe is being held at the Hope and showcases the collaborative photography between Dark Horses and Ali Tollervey, who works so closely with the band that he’s considered a member. Tonight there’s the private view for the exhibition and a Dark Horses gig too, so we sent over a few questions to find out a bit more about his work with the band:
Brighton Music Blog : How did you end up being Dark Horses photographer?
Ali Tollervey : I was already friends with Lisa & had photographed her performing before the band that Dark Horses would become had taken shape. I was actually staying at Lisa’s house for a brief period around the time that Dark Horses were evolving, they were recently back from early recording sessions at the Key Club Studios in Michigan with Richard Fearless. New members were joining. Lisa had played me the recordings from the states, I was excited by the project & believed in the music. It seemed very natural to work together & developed organically. After hearing a demo Kasabian offered them tour support. Things all moved very quickly, within a few short weeks we were on stage at Brixton & Wembley.
BMB : Were you considered a member from the beginning?
TV : Again it’s something that evolved .There was always the idea of collaboration, a collective approach, trying to create an energy, something more than just music. There was visual feedback as counterpoint to the sound..they fed into each other..As I was on board from the start we grew together. It was immersive. I was pretty much at every show / tour for the first couple years. We were a family or better a gang. It felt like we were all working together, my role just happened to be visual. It’s more usual for photographers to be outsiders, quickly meeting a band for a press shot or maybe joining them for part of a tour`. This was different, we’d be lugging equipment together, on stage together, if necessary sharing beds together.. Aside from the photography I was involved with other areas relating to the band.
BMB : What do you remember of the first proper shoot you did with them?
TV : It was a late evening group shot at Lisa’s home which became our ‘clubhouse’. They were taken in front of a back wall which happens to be adorned with a giant floor to ceiling black & white print by Irving Penn of the Hell’s Angels – a group portrait in itself. So there were twice the sets of eyes staring back at me. (On a side note we realised afterwards that every male member of the Hell’s Angels in the Penn backdrop bore a striking resemblance to our guitarist Bobby Waterson, the only band member unable to make the shoot)
BMB : When you’re shooting Dark Horses, how much input do they have and how much is about your vision for the band?
TV : Everybody involved with Dark Horses has their own vision they bring but together it works.. Though it’s a collaboration, we all trust each others individual strengths & input. There’s a dialogue but we have our own areas we work in. So I have freedom… Pierre Angélique the filmmaker behind the videos has played a very significant role also.
BMB : Your work with the band covers reportage shots, promo shoots and live shots, have you got any favourite local locations or venues to shoot them?
TV : I’d say it’s the reportage I enjoy the most… I don’t have favourite locations & don’t tend to shoot that much locally… Anywhere can be good.. There was a particularly hot & atmospheric derelict building we used as a rehearsal space in Malta with an abandoned wedding dress floating in a heavy old wardrobe.. a beautiful forest we explored in Switzerland.. We did a show with Sigur Ros in an 8000 seater outdoor amphitheatre in Perth which was an incredible setting, particularly memorable for me as I’d broken my toes earlier that day so fighting my way through the crowd from the stage at the bottom of the valley to the very top for a wide shot was pretty scary. The best however shots could equally come from a Holiday Inn car park.
BMB : You’ve traveled quite a bit with Dark Horses, occasionally taking an exhibition of your photos with you. Are there any tales you can share, or does what happen on tour stay on tour?
TV : It does to an extent stay on tour. it’s an amazing thing to do but mostly not that glamorous. Some of the best after parties happen in the back of the van.The best part is the time spent together, experiences shared & the people you meet along the way. In Malta (with Kinemastik & Bare Bones) we took over an entire subway underpass as an exhibition space, pasting giant prints directly to the walls, we had a launch party down there too with a bar & music. Rather than being taken down afterwards the prints stayed up long after we’d left slowly disintegrating over time. We’ve spent quite a bit of time with the Dandy Warhol’s & that’s always good. We played an impromptu game of Boule with Pete Doherty in a field in France once. I can’t remember who won.
Bjork by Ali Tollervey
BMB : Is your music photography just limited to Dark Horses, or have you shot other bands?
TV : I’m not solely a music photographer but I’ve always been involved with music in one way or another, I ran a record shop, promoted shows for several years, worked on music videos etc so I have photographed many bands in different contexts.. My first proper official live show where I had a photo pass was Bjork, I had a very basic old film camera & all the old pros in the photo pit must have thought I was a joke. My first real portrait session was with David Axelrod, I got to spend an hour with him which was amazing. Like a lot photographers I used to document the scenes going on around me. I realise I don’t go to so many gigs with my camera anymore though, I think I just want to enjoy the show.
BMB : Finally, will you be shooting the band at their gig on 12th October?
TV : I haven’t decided yet, it will be hard not to but they’ve worked out an amazing set for this one off show so I may wish to simply be a spectator.
Horse Latitudes, an exhibition of Ali Tollervey’s photos of Dark Horses is on at The Hope now and runs until the 2nd November, with Dark Horses playing live tonight.
Somehow we’ve lapsed back to posting about our Gigs of the Week on Wednesday, but it’s a quiet week this week with not too many gigs to tell you all about. Next week is looking busier, and I promise a bumper post much earlier in the week.
The most interesting gig we’ve seen isn’t wholly a gig – it’s half gig, half film. To celebrate the launch of the new Coen Brothers film Inside Llewyn Davis, Dukes @ Komedia are holding a special event on Friday night, showing the film then hosting a folk gig in the Komedia studio bar downstairs featuring Cate Ferris, StevieRay Latham, James Riley and Lewis Todhunter. Also on Friday night, Oh Captain are hosting their video launch at the Green Door Store.
Moving onto Saturday night, Dirty Weekend in Brighton are launching their new single at Latest Music Bar, and Neon Saints Brass Band are playing at the Gladstone.
