A chance to support Rizzle Kicks

Posted on 13/03/2013 by brightonmusicblog

Normally when we see people on social media seeking out bands to fill support slots, we give them a mention or a retweet, but when we heard about this opportunity we thought we’d write a separate blog post, because it’s rather special.

Rizzle Kicks (copyright Jim Stephenson)

Audio Active are a local charity who work with children and young people providing them with musical and creative experiences. They’re putting on a fund raiser at the Dome on 27th March headlined by Rizzle Kicks and are offering a local band the opportunity to support them which, considering how big Rizzle Kicks are, is a bit of a big deal. Obviously this might attract a fair bit of attention, so there’s a few criteria they’d like people making an application to follow:

Aged 21 or under
Must have a 15-20 minute live set
Must be urban inspired (genres inc hip hop, rap, garage, r&b, dubstep, d&b, etc)
Must be available to audition on 21th March if shortlisted
And available on March 27th for the gig, obviously

Deadline for applications is Monday 18th of March, so get your skates on. There’s full details of how to apply in the Audio Active website. Alternatively, you could just buy a ticket for the gig, see one of of the biggest Brighton bands, and support a local charity too!

Weekend Gig Picks

Posted on 13/03/2013 by brightonmusicblog

Time for our weekly round of up our local picks for the upcoming weekend. This week, one of our picks is not quite so local but we’re willing to make an exception for Shrag’s final gig. We’ll be escaping Brighton on Friday to head up to The Lexington in Islington where Helen, Bob and the rest of the group will play for the very last time. If the prospect of travelling to another town for a gig fills you with dread, then we suggest you get down to the Green Door Store where Hundredth Anniversary are holding a party for the launch of their debut single The Jump. The single comes out on Monday (March 18th) but the band should have some copies with them for sale.

Our top tip for Saturday is a matinee performance where Brighton Music Blog favourite Catherine Ireton is supporting Roddy Woomble. I wouldn’t expect to hear the likes of Idlewild in the Unitarian Church, but we’ve been assured that his solo material gets filed under “folk”.Finally, our other weekend tip is to head to the Green Door Store on Saturday and Sunday, where Tatty Seaside Town are celebrating 10 years of promoting gigs in Brighton. Bands playing include Demons, Disinfo, Epideme, Hamilton yarns, Hey colossus, I’m being good and Sealings. There’s full details over on the Facebook event.

Kovak – Radiate

Posted on 12/03/2013 by brightonmusicblog

We mentioned Radiate back in January before it was released. Now it’s been out, it’s also popped up in a few other forms. Here’s a remix by legendary producer Youth, and video that’s popped up on Youtube of an acoustic version from last year when they were recording their album in Spain:

You can buy Radiate on iTunes here.

Dog in the Snow / Fear

Posted on 07/03/2013 by brightonmusicblog

We included Dog In The Snow in our Weekend Gig Picks post, on the bill supporting Hidden Orchestra alongside Calico at the Blind Tiger on Sunday. That was our first mention of the band though, so now’s a good time to introduce to you some of their music. Here’s their latest video for a track called Fear, which was produced by Steve Hillier of Dubstar fame:

Fear of Men live at The Haunt / live in America

Posted on 07/03/2013 by brightonmusicblog

Last year’s eponymous album by Melody’s Echo Chamber was a bit of a favourite of ours, so we jumped at the chance to go and see them when tickets went on sale a few months ago. When we found out later that Fear of Men would be supporting, we were even happier.

When we previewed the gig before the weekend, we were thinking that with Fear of Men’s new album nearly ready this would be a showcase for their new material. In the end, the band only played one new track, instead focussing on their released material so far (recently collected on the fine Early Fragments compilation). Speaking to the band after the gig, the reason for this was that they wanted to be as good as they possibly could for their performances at SXSW festival next week and you can’t blame them for that. Their hard work is paying off, and they’ve never sounded better. You wouldn’t know that Jess was once happy to have her vocals low in the mix, nor would you know that this is one of the band’s first gigs with their new bass player. Where the band’s older material wouldn’t have sounded out of place on legendary 90s indie-pop label Sarah Records the one new song they played sounded bigger, louder, faster and more confident. Recording of their debut album is still taking place so who knows how representative this will be of what we have to expect later this year.

As I type, Fear of Men are on a plane on their way to America. They’re kicking things off with Festival NRML in Mexico, heading to Austin, Texas where they’ll be playing NINE shows at this year’s SXSW festival. Then they’re heading off to New York for another couple of shows there. Here’s the full list:

SXSW
3/12 – 2.45pm – Red7 (Terrorbird SXSW day party)
3/13 – 1pm – Hype Hotel 301 Brazos (Gorilla vs Bear x Yours Truly)
3/14 – 1.15pm – Hotel Vegas (Austin Psych Fest)
3/14 – 3pm – Flat Top Burger Shop (Music for Listeners)
3/14 – 9pm – Valhalla (Kanine/Fat Cat Records showcase)
3/15 – 3.30pm – End of an Ear (Instore)
3/16 – 1.30pm – Fader Fort (Fader)
3/16 – 3.15pm – inside House of Vans @ The Mohawk (AV Club/Flower)
3/16 – 4.40pm- Latitude 30 (British Music Embassy)

New York
3/19 – 8.30pm – Glasslands Gallery, Brooklyn (Headline show)
3/20 – 8pm – Pianos, New York (w/Field Mouse)

And if you didn’t make it to the gig last weekend, and aren’t in America, then here’s a new video for Seer, which was the previously unreleased track from Early Fragments:

Weekend Gig Picks

Posted on 07/03/2013 by brightonmusicblog

It’s a bumper weekend for gigs as ever in Brighton with loads of local talent getting out there and playing live.

Late night on Thursday is the third Night Sweats even – a gig where the doors don’t open until 9pm and the headliner isn’t onstage until after midnight. It’s on at Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar, and Royal Blood headline supported by Broker, She Crazy, Eager Teeth and Light Parade.

Friday Night is the Tiny Dragons single launch at Latest Music Bar that we mentioned in a post earlier this week. There’s also a Brighton Rocks night being held at Sticky Mike’s headlined by Jipsy Magic, and we’ve also spotted that Luo are going to be supporting Easter Island Head at The Hope.

On Saturday, we’ve got a rare afternoon gig to plug. The Blind Tiger has an afternoon of music featuring A-M-I, Southpaw, The Cotard Delusion, Grasshopper and Crisis Warning. If you’re after something to do in the evening you could do a lot worse than head down to the Physics House Band’s free monthly club night Kaleidoscope at at Sticky Mike’s, where Caveman Genius are playing live.

Sunday is all about the local support slots – Jennifer Left is supporting Polly and the Billets Doux at the Hope, meanwhile Calico and Dog in the Snow will be supporting the Hidden Orchestra at the Blind Tiger.

Bent Cousin / Bentpaperboy video

Posted on 05/03/2013 by brightonmusicblog

A few weeks ago we raved about the Bent Cousin Everybody’s Got One EP. It’s still getting lots of plays at Brighton Music Blog towers, and now the band have released a video for lead track Bentpaperboy. MTV got the exclusive premiere but that was only a few hours ago, so it’s not like we’ve been caught napping. They haven’t even posted it onto their Facebook yet. Here it is:

With any luck, Bent Cousin will be playing live soon to make up for the fact that they had to cancel their single launch. As soon as we find out more, we’ll let you know.

Us Baby Bear Bones / What Starts with a U, Ends with an I

Posted on 05/03/2013 by brightonmusicblog

Us Baby Bear Bones have announced details of their debut EP. “What Starts with a U, Ends with an I” is being released on 10th June on Brighton Based label Love Thy Neighbour (who have also put out Abi Wade’s releases so far, as well as putting on countless great gigs around town).

The EP will be limited to 216 copies, the covers of which are a segment of a massive picture painted by band member Puff Gandolfo (have we mentioned how much we love the revival of proper rock star pseudonyms?).

The band gave us a taster last year uploading You to YouTube, and the EP will also include Rain which was previously available on the Sea Monsters 2 compilation. For now, you can grab Rain as a free download over on bandcamp:

Us Baby Bear Bones next gig is supporting Fiction at the Green Door Store on 19th March.

Tiny Dragons / Come Alive

Posted on 04/03/2013 by brightonmusicblog

About a year ago, we went along to see Tiny Dragons launching a single at the Prince Albert. So we were a bit confused by their press people sending us an email about their upcoming “debut single”. It turns out that this is their first single being run through the industry machine rather than being a home baked DIY affair. No matter – Come Alive is great. A bit more rock and a bit less funk than last time we saw them, but still as tight as they come.

It’s been a great year since we first spotted them. In that time they’ve supported Bastille, The Blockheads and the Fun Loving Criminals, and there’s a Stranglers support slot coming up too. They’re launching the EP this friday at Latest Music Bar. Tiny Dragons are a fantastic live band – it should be a great gig!

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.