Sea Monsters Day Three – One Inch Badge vs Love Thy Neighbour

Posted on 24/01/2013 by brightonmusicblog

After yesterday’s snow debacle, I had no trouble getting to the Prince Albert for tonight’s One Inch Badge vs Love Thy Neighbour Sea Monsters night. It was the night I’ve been most looking to based on the bands who were playing, but that’s not to say that I’m not looking forward to the other nights to introduce me to new bands.

First up was Jacko Hooper, a singer songwriter type, one man and his guitar. He had a great voice and at times, his guitar playing was stunning. His blurb cited Jeff Buckley as an influence but I was hearing more Jose Gonzales – a great voice with nice acoustic flourishes. My only concern was the his hoody was worn in the same way as Rylan from X-factor.

Jacko Hooper

The second band on the bill were Plasticine. When they were setting up, I saw four boys in skinny jeans preparing their instruments, which is a bit of a pet hate of mine. Thankfully Plasticine were much better than my first impressions, and were very enjoyable to watch. However, their mini-biog says that they are carrying the Britpop baton, but my memories of Britpop have more singalong choruses.

Plasticine

Holy Vessels were up next and played a great set of breezy country-folk, which drew heavily from last year’s Last Orders at the Marshall Arms album. It was their bassist’s last gig with the band, and a big chunk of the audience had come specifically to see Holy Vessels (including a number of people who stood right at the front and spent most of the gig taking photos on tablet phones). In a parallel universe, there’s a twin sibling of Holy Vessels where the lead singer hams up the “holy” part of their name and dresses as a gospel preacher and exalts the audience to join them in their journey. In our universe however, the lead singer keeps his eyes closed while singing and is more than polite between songs.

Holy Vessels

The big draw tonight was Abi Wade, who’s come a long way since we first saw her playing the acoustic slot at a Source New Music Night back in 2011. Easily the most obvious choice for the headline slot (despite her modesty), Abi engaged with the audience, who were awestruck by her talent, not just in her original cello-as-percussion-and-instrument setup, but also in her new set ups, introducing samples and programmed drums into the mix, or switching to piano. I’ve said it before and no doubt I’ll say it again, Abi Wade really is one of the most engaging performers Brighton has, and you really should go and see her live.

Abi Wade

Sea Monsters Preview interview with Andy Rossiter of Love They Neighbour

Posted on 17/01/2013 by brightonmusicblog

In advance of next week’s One Inch Badge promoted Sea Monsters seven gig bonanza at the Prince Albert, we caught up with Andy Rossiter of Love They Neighbour, who’s curating Wednesday night’s gig:

Last year’s Sea Monsters wasn’t curated, but this year’s is. How did you come to be hosting an evening?

I’ve known Alex from One Inch Badge for a while now; we owned the Freebutt together and Love Thy Neighbour have done a few co-promotions with One Inch Badge, so when they asked me I had no hesitation in saying yes. The last two Sea Monsters events have been great in showcasing the best of Brighton, so it is a pleasure to be part of it.

The next Love Thy Neighbour release is by Us Baby Bear Bones, who aren’t on the bill. Did you want them to play, or were they already booked to play at the Danger Du Mort night at the Green Door Store already?

Yeah, we’re really excited to be releasing Us Baby Bear Bones debut release ‘What starts with a U ends in an I’, which is out in March. That band are incredibly creative, so expect some great artwork as well as a stellar ep! They would have played this year, but they played Sea Monsters 1 & 2, so One Inch Badge were keen not to have the band play for a third successive year.

Have the other acts on the bill got a chance of recording for Love They Neighbour, or is the night about Love Thy Neighbour as promoters rather than the label?

Love Thy Neighbour is open to all sorts of music, so if we find a band we love who get what we’re about then we’d happily release something by them. After the Us Baby Bear Bones EP we plan to release an EP by A Lily, and we’re in talks with another Brighton band about a release in the summer, but other than that we are free for something new. We see ourselves as a introductory label where acts can release their music and have complete creative control over their music & art, so I anticipate that Abi Wade, Us Baby Bear Bones and A Lily will move onto bigger & better things and we will release music later in the year potentially by acts we haven’t even heard yet.

Who’s Love Thy Neighbour’s tip from the bands playing across the other nights?

Apologies to anyone who knows me personally, because I literally don’t shut up about this band, but if you haven’t seen TRAAMS yet, then you must, they’re amazing. They make slacker lo-fi rock music with elements of Krautrock & US indie. They have an eye for a tune too. Would have loved to have done something with them for Love Thy Neighbour, but they have already moved onto bigger & better things! A close second is Physics House Band, another band who are flipping awesome and an outstanding live proposition.

If you could have got any Brighton band, past or present, to play your night who would you have chosen?

Er wow, that’s a tough one. There were loads of Brighton based bands I loved when I was about 18 like Clearlake, 80’s Matchbox B-Line Disaster, Turncoat, Charlottefield, British Sea Power, Coin-op & Electric Soft Parade, but I think it would have to be Electrelane. For those who don’t know their music, they made alternative, mostly instrumental rock & electronica and their albums were largely produced by Steve Albini. They split up in 2007, but reformed last year for live performances. My favourite album of theirs is ‘No Shouts No Calls’, which gets a lot of play in Sticky Mike’s!

Love Thy Neighbour curate Wednesday night at Sea Monsters, with Abi Wade, Holy Vessels, Plasticine and Jacko Hooper

Abi Wade / Heavy Heart

Posted on 14/10/2012 by brightonmusicblog

November 5th see’s the Abi Wade’s second release for the Brighton based Love Thy Neighbour label. Heavy Heart, which can be bought through the bandcamp link below is another slice of Abi’s unique combination of haunting voice, cello and drum box, and is backed with another new track, Faker.

Abi is one of Brighton’s most compelling live acts. If you haven’t seen her yet, she’s next playing on 11th December at St Mary’s Church. If you want a Brighton related gig before then, she’s supporting Brighton Music Blog favourite Woodpecker Wooliams at the Old Queen’s Head in Islington on 14th November.

Love Thy Neighbour to release Us Baby Bear Bones EP

Posted on 04/04/2012 by brightonmusicblog

Following on from releasing Abi Wade’s debut EP at the end of last year, Love Thy Neighbour have announced that they will be putting out an EP by Us Baby Bear Bones. What Starts With a U Ends With an I comes out in July – A bit of a wait, but if the video they’ve put out already for it is anything to go by, it’ll be worth it:

Us Baby Bear Bones are supporting AU at Sticky Mikes on 26th April, and are playing numerous times over the Great Escape Festival weekend.

Abi Wade live at the Old Market

Posted on 25/03/2012 by brightonmusicblog

Abi Wade at The Old Market

Last time I saw Abi Wade, back in December of last year, she was playing the acoustic spot at the Source New Music night at the Pavilion Theatre. Her ‘Of Blood and Air’ EP had just been released, but she was playing to a largely unappreciative audience. In the past three months a lot has changed, because last Thursday night she played to a packed out hall at the Old Market, where the crowd were hanging on every note. Support came from Dan Edwards & Max Crawford, and Luke Sital-Singh. Rumours of me having missed the support because I was distracted in The Conqueror around the corner are unfortunately true. We arrived just as Abi’s set started, and my companions marvelled at both the simplicity and the complexity of her setup. With just one person on stage, it is quite incredible that the sound of a whole band is produced. Somehow, with the aid of a tambourine and a stomp box on drum pedals, cello strings being bowed, and plucked, and the cello body being tapped with the bow, and drumsticks and even a hairbrush, and warm rich sound was created which, had you not been watching, that thought that it was only being created by one person wouldn’t have even crossed your mind. For three quarters of an hour, we were treated to a selection of tracks from the debut EP, and a whole host of other material, including an interesting cover of One Hand Holding by The Maccabees. We were left wanting more, which is the way thing should be – thankfully, Abi’s got a lot more gigs coming up soon: On 18th April at The Haunt (supporting Sea of Bees, with fellow Brightonions Heliopause also on the bill), 27th April at The Hope (supporting Dan Mangan) and 13th June at the Prince Albert (supporting mancubbabywoman)

New Label, New EP

Posted on 15/11/2011 by brightonmusicblog

Brighton has a new record label in it’s midst – it’s called Love Thy Neighbour, and it’s been set up by Daniel Copeman from Esben & The Witch and Brighton Promoter Andy Rossiter. Their first EP has just just hit the shops (I picked it up from Resident last saturday), and is by local cellist singer songwriter Abi Wade, entitled “And Blood And Air”:

Before I even start to describe the music, I have to say how impressed I was with the packaging. The “air” is cut out from the sleeve, there’s a separate band around the outside, and the text on the main part of the cover is hand printed. I’m a sucker for nice packaging, and this is pushing all my buttons.

And then the music – it’s a little bit folky, and quite minimal, mostly with just Abi singing and playing the cello, sometimes with the vocal doubled up to give harmonies, and sometimes with some light percussion. The cello is used to great effect, not just bowed, but plucked in a manner of styles to fill the some of the gaps where a bigger band might have guitars or bass or drums. You can listen to one of the tracks off of the EP on soundcloud here:

There’s more details on her myspace, and occasional updates on twitter. I’ll keep an eye out for some links for the label and post them when I find them.