We haven’t posted up a gallery of a local gig since October last year, and the last time we featured a gig at the Green Door Store was back in 2014. It’s been a while. So here are some shots from last night’s gig. Prince Vaseline headlined supported by Red Deer People and grasshopper, and turnout was surprisingly good for a grey Sunday in January. Click on the pics to view large:
This week, Phantom Runners head out on an eleven date tour of the UK. They kicked things off at the weekend with a low key date in Worthing and are heading to The Hope & Ruin tonight. There’s another local date the weekend after next at Sticky Mikes before they properly head out on the road taking in London, Bournemouth, Southampton, Hastings and Dartford (as well as another Brighton date at Bleach on 26th November).
The band are rejuvenated having had a bit of a line up change recently, and support at tonight’s gig comes from Curxes, who we haven’t caught since their appearance at The Great Escape six months ago, so we’re looking forward to tonight.
Over the course of June, The Go! Team took their new album The Scene Between on the road. The tour ended on 21st June in Manchester but didn’t include a hometown gig, so last night they reconvened and blew the roof off of the Haunt. The setlist was a Go! Team superfan’s dream taking in tracks from all four albums – including Thunder Lightning Strike’s closing track Everybody’s a VIP to Someone, complete with banjo – as well as a brand new track She’s Got Guns. The band were clearly out to enjoy themselves without any pressure to trot out their greatest hits – Ladyflash didn’t get an outing, but nobody cared because there was too much fun being had by all. Support came from grasshopper, who seem to be getting all the right attention these days after supporting The Charlatans earlier this year.
Here’s our pics from the night. Click to view large:
To celebrate The Go! Team playing their first live date in years last night up in London, the band have released three videos, for each of the tracks from their new long player The Scene Between that clock in under a minute – Rolodex The Seasons, Gaffa Tape Bikini and The Floating Felt Tip.
Don’t worry if you missed out on seeing the band up in London. It’s always such a pain to get back from London, and it was sold out anyway. Instead you can see the band on 4th July at The Haunt, where they’ll be supported by grasshopper.
Coachwerks is a former motor garage in the backs of Hollingbury which also acts as an occasional community hub and very rare live venue. It has started brewing its own beer on-site too in a rather special micro-brewery and last night I can vouch for the tastiness of the Old Bastard bitter, which is also available at a good price.
Last night the garage was packed for a live music show, featuring the Knights Project, Kristin McClement and Dom Prag and the Pillow Biters.
First up was Dom Prag who plays some inventive new wave songs, which his bassist tried to convince were a record of the lead singer’s sex life. The most memorable was an excellent song called ‘Unemployment’,
Kristin McClement
Kristin McClement
There was a slight pause before the second act which gave us good time to sample the home brew. Kristin McClement was en route direct from a support slot that evening for Sam Lee at the Brighton Corn Exchange, so it was quite a switch to come to the tiny Coachwerks on the same night. However, we were privileged to have her and she and drummer Jools performed an intense set of her melancholic poetic folk songs. We’ve written about Kristin before, but if you haven’t heard her new album ‘The Wild Grips’ yet we highly recommend that you do.
The Knights Project
The Knights Project
Last up were the Knights Project, a folk super group comprising the Pillow Biters from earlier plus assorted others, and led by Lucy Day. Theirs is a joyful sound of guitars and violins and accordion, which provided an enjoyable way to close the evening.
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Photographs by Jon Southcoasting
Last night Neonfiller hosted a fun-filled three-band session at the newly kitted-out upstairs room at the Joker featuring Seadog warming up for their support slot at tonight’s Spectrum show (2000s math-rock crossed with Elliott Smith-infused indie harmonies), Fever Dream (1990s … Continue reading
We haven’t been so great about getting out to gigs so far this year. The fact that it’s still so cold that I can still see my breath when I leave the house in the mornings and a couple of colds which have knocked me for six have meant that the allure of the sofa was stronger than that of leaving the house. Last night though, we were invited out to Hotel Pelirocco where the Brighton Sofar Sounds crew put on their latest night.
I think I described the last Sofar Sounds gig as possibly the most tightly packed gig that I’d ever been to. Last night was even busier. When I heard it was at Hotel Pelirocco I thought it would be in the bar area where I’d been to many nights in the past, but on arriving someone on the door asked if we were here for the comedy, and if we weren’t we were guided down some stairs, doubling back on yourself, going down some more stairs, turning corners until you had no idea quite which direction you were facing, into a room where the door wouldn’t open fully because of the number of bodies. It turns out that we had been directed to the Kraken’s lair – Pelirocco’s most recently refurbished rum-sponsored room.
First up was Alex KP, who initially looked fairly innocuous with just her voice and guitar to entertain us, but very early on proved she had a great soulful voice. By the end of her short set she’d also introduced a loop pedal and a violin into the mix. Definitely someone to watch out for in future (her album is apparently due next week). Next up was Slam The Poet, performing as a two piece under the new guise of MVC. Think Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius pip without so much facial hair and more freestyling.
After a short break to allow everyone to nip to the bar we came back to find that there was even less room than before because final act Our Girl had set up taking up twice as much space as the previous bands. We’ve written Our Girl frontwoman Soph Nathan before when she was writing and recording under her own name. Having a full band behind her has transformed her ideas into the real deal. She had the best songs of the night, sounding fantastic drenched in reverb.
You can find out more about Sofar Sounds Brighton on their facebook page or their website. Click on the pics below to view large.
Kristin McClement launched her new album ‘The Wild Grips‘ on Saturday night in Brighton at the One Church on Gloucester Parade, the latest in a long line of incredible music from the Willkommen Records stable.
Support act Benjamin Benedict, a solo Ben Rubinsteain – lead singer with Mariner’s Children, had a bit of a cold which made his reverbed vocals sound a lot like one of those early 60s English pop singers favoured so much by the likes of Joe Meek. That was no bad thing. Supporting Willy Mason also seemed to rub off on Ben. He started off a bit snuffly and hesitant, but showed the strength of his songwriting and singing in the last three songs.
Benjamin Benedict
But this was really all about Kristin McClement, whose album ‘The Wild Grips‘ has been a long long time coming. Song ‘Planks’ was a highlight of the first Willkommen Collective compilation way back in 2009, but little McClement music had emerged since then, despite her regularly venturing forth to play live in a variety of formations, lately most commonly as a two-piece with drummer and backing vocalist Julian Owens. Now her long-awaited debut is out in the world, recorded with Christian Hardy of the Leisure Society who featured on keyboards here in an expanded live band.
Kristin McClement
McClement’s set began with her solo, playing the beautiful mournful ‘Mouthful of Shells’, then she was joined by drummer Owens for ‘Planks’, another stunning song. This is the mainstay of her live performances in normal times, but for the remainder of the set her stage support grew to feature Christian Hardy, three quarters of Eyes and No Eyes as well as multi-instrumentalist Emma Gatrill and the aforementioned Owens, allowing the rich sounds of the album to be re-created live.
The ‘The Wild Grips’ is an extraordinary collection of mournful yet beautifully crafted and poetic songs, with McClement’s deep resonant voice dominant throughout. Songs like ‘Hoax of a Man’ and the aforementioned ‘Mouthful of Shells’ are particular favourites, but the whole work is genuinely quite special. There’s the lost princess spirit of the alt-folk heroine Sibylle Baier in the intimate cool of the songs, but enriched with the talents of the Willkommen collective the musical depth of the playing comes into finer focus. Julian Owen’s percussion and backing vocals are particularly noteworthy, as was the playing of the gritty soulful celloist Becca Mears.
The main set ended with the Drink Waltz {‘Drink with me’) in which the audience were asked to join in the poignant chorus, not easy given the awkward flow of the words but achieved with aplomb. Then the band returned for an encore of the album’s title-track , a deeply elegant and personal song. Perhaps not an obviously uplifting way to end a show, with its dark lyric, but the band lifted the gloom and filled the large Baptist church hall leaving the audience mesmerised and happy.
Kristin McClement
Listen to the opening track ‘Blackfin Gulls’ below
The album ‘The Wild Grips’ can be ordered via bandcamp at https://kristinmcclement.bandcamp.com/
News has reached Brighton Music Blog HQ from the grasshopper camp. First up is a remix of Rico’s Revenge, taken from last year’s Circle Time EP. It’s been turned into a very cool slice of synth based krautrock by Def Stare artist Oban 2. Visuals in the video come from Innerstrings Light Show who have been making a whole load of Brighton’s gigs a lot more better looking for the last few years.
If you wanted to catch Grasshopper live (and trust us – you should), there’s two local gigs coming up. First up they’re playing at Northern Lights on Saturday, supporting Bleeding Hearts Recording signing Seadog. A little more impressively, they’ve also managed to grab a slot supporting The Charlatans who are playing at Worthing Pavilion on 15th March.
Seadog are the baby of Mark Benton, erstwhile guitarist with Man Ray Sky, Grand Palace and occasional others. Five years on from their first EP, a double set of beautiful soft pastoral songs which sounded like some lost singer-songwriter classic from the early 1970s, comes the new Transmitter EP, something a little tougher and wilder. The songs themselves have been part of the Seadog live set for several years but they’re now getting a well-deserved release on the excellent Bleeding Hearts recordings label.
Brighton music blog were there for the launch.
First up were Such Small Hands, centred around Melanie Howard’s beautiful vocals and dark break-up anti-love pop songs. Instead of a second guitar, Chris played a “keytar” which was a strapped-on extended keyboard. it’s a bit of a shame he spent most the gig bashing away at just a couple of keys because it looked like something that could be really interesting. Fortunately Melanie provided more than enough entertainment.
Next up were The Creaking Chair, including Seadog drummer Ryan Bollard, who played an enticing mix of Krautrock and early 70s English whimsy like Kevin Ayres, with some funky interjections too. It was a good mix that had the audience nodding in appreciation.
Finally, main band Seadog with a slightly augmented line-up, playing the new EP and other songs, sounding nervous and rough-edged at first, but then coming beautifully alive. The new songs have the lovely harmonies of the first EPs, with great songs like Haunted which have a classic twisted poppiness. Then Max plays the childlike xylophone introduction to ‘Transmitter’ and a lovely warm noise envelopes the room. The band have a fine sound, Mark Benton’s sweet vocals provide a strong lead and some well-crafted songs help ensure this is a band to watch. Here’s hoping they stop with EPs and collect together an album soon.
In the meantime, Transmitter is available in a variety of formats – CDs, downloads and soon-to-be-available vinyl. Catch Seadog at their next gig at the Northern Lights on 17th January. In the meantime, here’s a live version of Haunted
Brighton Music Blog 