Tag Archives: The Haunt

Electric Soft Parade play Holes in the Wall

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Brighton’s favourite indie band The Electric Soft Parade played The Haunt last night for the tenth anniversary of their classic Holes in the Wall album, released on Feb 4th 2002.

Support came from two local bands – Another Costume Party, who play good energetic indie rock; and Whiskey Whores, who are a bluegrass-country band, and a lovely one at that.

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The White brothers seemed to have mixed emotions about their tenth anniversary gig. Happy to celebrate ten years of their much-lauded first album that still sounds brilliant today, they also seemed keen to see the back of it and consign it to history.

The songs are still strong, and the band itself – Tom and Alex White augmented by Damo Waters on drums, Matthew Twaites on bass and Andrew Mitchell (of the Hazey Janes) on second guitar – sounded amazing. Tom and Alex swapped keys/guitar from song-to-song, and the ‘hit’ single Silent to the Dark, played out in its full length noise-filled long version which seemed to go on for a mesmerising 15 minutes was worth the entrance money alone. Tom even managed to get the audience to sing the opening lines, before the band launched into its sonic assault. Empty at the End, Somethng’s Got to Give, Biting the soles of my feet were also highlights.

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But things were obviously not quite right with the band, with Alex in particular having a fit and throwing his toys out of the pram. By the end of the gig he was bemoaning the fact that his keyboards had died, perhaps not helped by his trying to play it with his heels earlier in proceedings, and saying this would be the last time he ever played live. That would be a shame because on the evidence of tonight, it’s hard to see how these boys could eve play a bad gig.

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Krankenhaus 2

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I missed the first of British Sea Power’s Krankenhaus nights at The Haunt, but I heard lots of good things about it. I’d heard it was a little less conventional than most night gigs, but nothing I’d heard quite prepared me for last night.

We didn’t get to the gig until about half past nine, and by that point we’d already missed BBC6’s Shaun Keaveny on stage with Brighton & Hove City Brass, so when we arrived and Cardiff’s Race Horses were on stage we didn’t suspect too much. Sure, a bit more effort had been made with decor compared to most bands, but that fitted with what we’d heard.

It was a bit busy downstairs, so he headed to the upstairs bar, which was where we found the ping pong. You read that right – there table tennis being played by drunk people upstairs while the band were onstage.

Shortly after The Race Horses left the stage, a lean, stripped down British Sea Power came on, and rattled through a set of epic pop just with guitar, bass and drums. The crowd surged, with one or two people having to be pulled to safety – the balcony was a sensible viewing choice. When they were joined by Brighton & Hove City Brass for Waving Flags (with each member being introduced separately), the stage looked incredibly cramped, but that didn’t dampen the atmosphere. A sprained ankle amongst our party meant we retreated from the crush to the bar, missing out on a life size bear onstage, from what I’ve seen and read on twitter. It was a surreal and wonderful experience.

British Sea Power

But things hadn’t got to their most surreal just yet. BSP left the stage, and choc ices started getting handed out around the crowd. The ping pong table, which up to now had involved people playing singles or doubles, was encouraged to play in a round, with twenty drunk people hitting the ball then making way for the next player in the round. Sean Keaveny DJed for a bit, which was a welcome link with normality. The normality was broken quite quickly though, when the final support came on stage – a Japanese Queen covers band called Queer. The singing wasn’t up to much, but the guitarist was a proper Japanese version of Brian May, right down to the tight perm. It was uncanny.

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If you haven’t made it down to one of British Sea Power’s nights as yet, make a note in your diaries for the first Friday of the month (there’s another four nights between now and June), because they really are a treat. The music is amazing enough, but the atmosphere in the crowd, and the extra touches make it an essential night.

Juice New Music Christmas party with 900 Spaces, Jennifer Left, Kidda and Midfield General

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One last gig before Christmas? Why not! Last night was the Juice New Music Night’s Christmas Party, their first event in their new home at The Haunt. I missed openers 900 Spaces because the annual Burning The Clocks procession was running a bit late, and arrived just a few minutes before Jennifer Left took to the stage. Jennifer has been working incredibly hard the past few months, playing a lot of gigs and spreading the word all around town, but the attention she’s been receiving isn’t just the result of a lot of hard work – there are some great songs behind everything she’s doing. Jennifer was very much in the festive spirit performing her set in a red Santa dress, although she didn’t perform any Christmas songs. A lot of reviews of Jennifer describe her sound as folky, but I’m guessing that they’re probably reviews of her solo performances rather than with the full band that she had last night, where she was accompanied by guitars, drums, double bass and a multi-instrumentalist who played everything from flugelhorn to xylophone. Things got a bit jazzier later on, with a bossa nova cover of New Order’s Temptation. Jennifer Left is definitely an act to look out for next year.

Once upon a time, Kidda was just Ste McGregor, his records, his sampler, and some passing musicians. These days he’s joined by guitarist and co-writer Lee Baker, and a couple of female vocalists, including Jennifer Left. Kidda’s music was a ray of sunshine on a grey drizzly December day like yesterday, and I know that there’s going to come a day in spring when the sun’s out, the skies are blue and the world is just coming back to life when one of their tunes comes on the radio and it’ll be just perfect. Their sound is gospel sampling summery hip hop played by a live band which is relentlessly positive. Even the songs about being sad sound happy! This was their first ever live band gig in their hometown, and if there were any nerves, they didn’t show. The got the whole of The Haunt on their feet – a cautious gap between the stage and the audience got transformed into a breakdance area, and by the end of the set everyone was dancing.

But that wasn’t the end of the night. Things were rounded off with a DJ set by Skint boss Damian Harris aka Midfield General. Once upon a time his sets would have been full of big beat classics, but keeping with the tone of Kidda’s tunes, things started off with some Snoop Dogg and carried on with more of a hip hop vibe. I’d have loved to have stayed longer, because he was playing some great tunes, but sadly the pressures of the day job meant I had to call it a night.

Sweet Sweet Lies Christmas gig at the Haunt

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When is a headliner not a headliner?

For the gig I went to this evening, the answer could be that the listed band were on early, at  8.30pm. Or it could be that all three bands on the bill could easily be headliners in their own right. I’m quite sure I’ve probably seen all three of these bands headlining their own gigs over the past couple of years. The gig itself was only a fiver – which would be a bargain to see any of these bands, let alone all three, but it wasn’t until I arrived that I realised that also included a shot of Tuaca in the bargain too. Bonus!

First up were Kovak, on criminally early at 7.30. But what a great way to start – they’ve honed their electro pop over many gigs in Brighton over the past few years, and now know exactly how to get things warmed up. They even threw in their cover of Atomic which they’ve been playing the last few times I’ve seen them.

 

Next up were the band billed as headliners – Sweet Sweet Lies. After a few technical hitches with the keyboards, they kicked off their classic brand of guitar led pop. They’ve been secretly working hard since the last time I saw them a couple of years ago, and now everything seems even more polished and professional than ever. Like Kovak, if things go their way, they could be headed for big things.

 

Finally, we had Mean Poppa Lean. It’s impossible not to like Mean Poppa Lean. Even if you don’t like funk, you can’t help but be seduced by their silliness, their outfits, and the fact that they’re just a great band. So it’s best just to join them in their fun. It only took them a couple of songs before pretty much the whole band were just stripped down to their crazy home made pantaloons / boxer shorts. And that’s probably why they were put on last!