GAPS single launch at the Green Door Store

Posted on 16/07/2013 by brightonmusicblog

Last night GAPS rounded off a mini tour to promote their debut 7” with a hometown gig at the Green Door Store.

The first support came from The Hundredth Anniversary, who were more together yet more relaxed than I’ve ever seen them. It’s still shoegaze, of sorts, but the angular drumming and tight rhythm section elevate them above the competition. The second support took things in a completely different direction – Laurie James Ross, better known as Eagles For Hands, played a set of House music using a table full of electronics controlling different channels and vocal samples. Sometimes things went a little bit garage and on some tracks the direction went a little bit deeper, but throughout the whole continuous set the Green Door Store sounded fantastic. Definitely one to watch.

The evening belonged to GAPS though. Their single Keep You / Cascade was released yesterday, and the duo were celebrating with a local gig. Ed was on the left on synths, drum pads and two microphones and Rachel filled the rest of the stage with guitars, more drums and more microphones. Their music has been described as folktronica, which probably fits with what they do on paper but doesn’t truly do justice to their sound. The best known examples of the genre seem to be electronica with a bit of folk added to make things more interesting or vice versa, but what we heard last night was a much more equal union of the two. AA side Cascade, with its long quiet seagull laden intro before the beats kick in, was dropped into the set early on, with flip side Keep You saved until the penultimate track. Discounting the gremlins before the end of the set GAPS played a great gig, making a sound that’s familiar, but unlike anyone else in town.

GAPS single launch gallery (click on the pics to view large):

GAPS

The Hundredth Anniversary

Eagles for Hands

GAPS – Keep You / Cascade 7” is out now on Sexbeat

GAPS next play live at 234 at the Green Door Store on the weekend of 3rd and 4th August.

Interlocutor at the Green Door Store 25/6/13

Posted on 26/06/2013 by brightonmusicblog

We got a sense of déjà vu last night. It felt like it had only been a week since we saw the White brothers onstage at the Green Door Store. Last night’s songs weren’t from Idiots though. In fact, it wasn’t even an Electric Soft Parade gig. Confused yet?

Last night Alex White’s new band Interlocutor played at the Green Door Store. You can count their gigs so far on one hand, which is why you might not be familiar with the name. Including Alex’s brother Thomas (on drums) there were a total of eleven people on stage, including a violinist, a three piece horn section, an additional percussionist, and at times three people playing guitar.

If all of this sounds a little bit grander than the current Electric Soft Parade live setup, which has less than half the number of musicians, then that’s because it is. While both Idiots and the new Interlocutor material both hark back to the days of classic songwriting, Interlocutor’s influences are more rooted in AOR – The set included Steely Dan and Todd Rundgren covers, the arrangements were bigger and the sound a little more melancholy. Alex’s own songs, which he described at one point as “slowcore” sat well alongside the covers although the lyrical content about family and domesticity brought things a little closer to home.

Interlocutor may not have packed the pop punch of Electric Soft Parade, but what they did had grace, class and the same fantastic musicianship.

Electric Soft Parade Album Launch

Posted on 18/06/2013 by brightonmusicblog

Last night The Electric Soft Parade headlined a rammed Green Door Store to launch their new album Idiots.

Crayola Lectern

Support came from the leftfield Crayola Lectern, who we’ve written about numerous times. The stage was all set up for the headliners, which left Chris Anderson tucked at the back playing Electric Soft Parade’s keyboards and Alistair Strachan rather exposed at the front. They only played a short set, and did their usual trick of leaving those in the room who hadn’t seen them before confused and beguiled.

Thomas White

By the time The Electric Soft Parade were ready to start the room was as rammed as the stage. Now playing as a six piece, and with at least half the band swapping instruments over the course of night there it all got a bit crowded. The set was drawn from their whole career with around half the tunes taken from Idiots. It was their first live gig with the new material, not that you would have known it. The White brothers were on charming form, with plenty of banter including some self deprecating words on their review from NME (which referred to one track as ” as unlistenable as a million malfunctioning taps” – “How did they know that was what we were after?” quipped Alex!). The band finished up with an encore of album closer Never Again played just by Alex and Thomas and then Mr Mitchell with the whole band. Electric Soft Parade – it’s good to have you back.

Alex White

The Electric Soft Parade are back onstage in Brighton again on 4th July, at an instore in Resident, and again on 19th July supporting The Levellers at The Dome.

Us Baby Bear Bones EP Launch Gallery

Posted on 12/06/2013 by brightonmusicblog

Last night, Us Baby Bear Bones launched their debut EP at the Green Door Store. We were there to enjoy the fun and catch Alphabets Heaven, Speak Galactic and Us Baby Bear Bones live sets. As with our other galleries, click on the images to view large.

Gallery : Club Berlin – Das Fenster, AK/DK, La Momo

Posted on 10/05/2013 by brightonmusicblog

Last time we went to Club Berlin Jennifer Left and Dom from Sweet Sweet lies played at The Jive Monkey in Kemptown. Since then the Jive Monkey has closed down and Club Berlin has had to find a new home, which they’ve done in the Green Door Store where they were last night. La Momo (featuring Crayola Lectern on guitar) opened the evening, followed by half an hour of improvised synths from AK/DK before a headline set from Das Fenster. Fujiya and Miyagi were DJing between acts, but they were in the dark so they avoided my lens. Actually, for the most part AK/DK were in the dark too!

As usual, click on the images to view large:

Boon Magazine Launch headlined by The New Union

Posted on 27/04/2013 by brightonmusicblog

Thursday night was the launch of a new magazine for Brighton, promising music, fashion, art and culture. They heard a rumour that we like Brighton and that we like music so they invited us along to the Green Door Store where they had a whole host of local talent playing for them.

The night kicked off early. When the gig was first announced Tiger Cub were second on the bill, but another commitment initially meant them pulling out, and then got rearranged for them to play a short set early on. I missed Tiger Cub though, cos I was having my dinner. I also missed Spit Shake Sisters, and most of Kill Moon, and when I arrived the room was already so rammed out I couldn’t get in and get a decent view.

Demob Happy

Demob Happy were great though – melodic indie rock which sounded fantastic at the Green Door Store, but I bet would sound even better when you’re sitting in a field in the sun at a festival.

The New Union

The New Union were the big draw of the evening, and one of the main reasons why the night was sold out. Every time I see them they seem to get better and better – Their sound is richer, the songs are stronger. They’ve got a few slow songs in their set now which I’m sure will be great when they’re recorded, but they were in danger of losing the crowd a bit when they played them. With their more upbeat indie numbers they had the audience in the palm of their hand and had the room jumping. They ended their set with last year’s single Without You, and what I guess is going to be their new single which is due in the next few weeks. We’ll hopefully be bringing you more details of that very soon.

The first edition of Boon Magazine is out on May Day.

Weekend Gig Picks

Posted on 24/04/2013 by brightonmusicblog

Earlier this week we pre-empted our regular weekend gig picks by putting up a separate post about Thursday night’s gigs with a choice of Moulettes, AK/DK or The New Union. Here’s the rest of what we recommend this weekend:

Our choice for Friday Night is Clowns, who are headlining at the Prince Albert. Clowns are a real must-see band. If you haven’t seen them, then this should be your Friday night sorted. Support comes from Mum, Dad & The Kids, Little Bird and Downing Street Years.

We haven’t mentioned Tyrannosaurus Dead for a while on the blog, but they’re on the bill on Saturday night at the Green Door Store (headlined by the Bastards of hate). Also on Saturday at The Hope is Rotait, who we’ve been meaning to catch for a while, supported by Simonne & The Dark Stars, Mishkin Fitzgerald from BirdEatsBaby and Paul Diello.

The big gig on Sunday night is Physics House Band, who are guaranteed to blow the roof off at the Green Door Store. Watch out if you’re catching a train out of town! Support comes from Shrine and Ojo de Gringa. We also spotted that over the road at the Prince Albert, Pete Fij & Terry Bickers are launching their new single, with Al Chamberlain also on the bill.

Thursday’s gigs – Moulettes at The Haunt, AKDK single launch / Source New Music at Dome Studio Theatre, New Union / Boon Magazine launch at The Green Door Store

Posted on 22/04/2013 by brightonmusicblog

Normally midweek I put up a post about gigs that have caught our eye in the upcoming weekend. This week, I’m making an exception and writing a whole post about three gigs taking place on thursday night, all of which look fantastic.

The first of the three is Brighton Music Blog favourites Moulettes, who are playing at The Haunt. Moulettes are a fantastic band, but it’s not until you see them live that you truly appreciate how great they are. Support comes from local act The Slytones (who we’ve still yet to catch), and Robert Vincent.

AKDK were one of our favourite acts at this year’s Sea Monsters. Their new single Battersea is out soon, so to celebrate they’re headlining this month’s Source New Music at the Dome Studio Theatre. Support comes from DA-10 (who were also brilliant at Sea Monsters), Dog in the Snow and George Lazenbleep.

Last, but by no means least is another launch, but this time of a magazine rather than a single. Boon Magazine say that they’re going to feature music, fashion, photography and culture. The launch takes place at the Green Door Store, and is headlined by The New Union. There’s also going to be a burlesque dancer, and more music from Demob Happy, Kill Moon and Spit Shake Sisters.

Willkommen’s ECHO featuring Damo Suzuki

Posted on 03/03/2013 by brightonmusicblog

On Friday night, Brighton’s Willkommen collective hosted another of their mini-ECHO festivals with a headliner Damo Suzuki of CAN backed by some of Brighton’s finest young musicians.

The show featured an amazing supporting line up: Sons of Noel and Adrian, Soccer 96 and (from London) Eyes & No Eyes, all perfect headliners in their own right. The music was amazing, and there were also visuals supplied by the Innerstrings Psychedelic Lightshow. A definite candidate for one of the gigs of the year.

Jon Southcoasting was there to take some pictures.

Eyes & No Eyes

Soccer 96

Sons of Noel and Adrian

Damo playing with Alastair Strachan and Patrick Lawrence

Marcus Hamblett, Alastair Strachan and Patrick Lawrence

Marcus Hamblett and Alistair Strachan playing with Damo Suzuki

Damo Suzuki

Clowns supported by Frank Melena Band at Green Door Store

Posted on 01/03/2013 by brightonmusicblog

We truly are spoiled in Brighton. Not just because of the massive choice of music that’s on offer, but because so much is so cheap. Last weekend we went to Brighton Electric – It was three pound on the door which worked out at a pound a band. Last night Clowns played at the Green Door Store and it was free!

Frank Melena Band

We missed Victorian Hunter – because of a club night being held later on it was an early gig. We arrived at the bar to see a few members of the band still wearing animal heads. Probably a band worth going to see for the visual spectacle if nothing else. We grabbed a pint and headed in to see Frank Melena Band, who are also notable for their outfits – The bulk of the band sported wrestling masks, some wore ladies fur coats, and the bassist wore shorts with matching fur boots and had fairy lights taped around his mask. Musically, the band performed a reasonable set of angry garage punk, at times trying out a bit of politics in the banter between songs to a largely indifferent crowd. A punk band needs a punk audience, which isn’t the audience that were at Green Door Store last night but with the right crowd they raise the roof. Oh and one last thing, don’t go googling Frank Melena to find out who the band are named, because it’s not a who, it’s a what

Clowns

One of the main reasons I’ll keep going to see Clowns is that every time I see them they outshine all the other bands on the bill. As a unit the band are tighter, the songs have better hooks, and main man Miles Heathfield not only looks like he believes every single word that he sings, but that he wants you to believe it too. Clowns rock hard, but they’re also accessible. There’s humour, but they’re also very dark. Miles’ suit could make him seem aloof, but he always gets in amongst the crowd while he’s performing. These contradictions are their strengths, and they’re what make them so compelling. One of last night’s highlight was upcoming single Love Vigilante, which the band had asked the audience to film on their phones to make the video. If I was in a band and wanted audience video, I’d have done it in a venue with much better lighting – Green Door Store is notoriously dark!

Clowns next gig is at the Con Club in Lewes on 12th April. See you there.