ISSUE 3
22 - 28 MAY 2018
GIG LISTINGS Our recommended listings of gigs in Brighton
LIVE REVIEWS From Cancer Bats, Yakul, Jungle and more gigs
GAZ COOMBES We talk about his new album and touring life
MUSIC NEWS
The latest from Yonaka, Teleman, Wire and others
A BIG YEAR AHEAD
ISSUE 3
CONTENTS 9
BLACK HONEY We caught up with Black Honey frontwoman Izzy Bee Phillips to chat about their new release, touring life and musical explorations
BRINGING THE ARTISTS CLOSER TO YOU...
CEO: Frank Sansom
NEWS
Local releases and more news from the city’s music scene
ALBUMS Check out the latest album releases this week
LISTINGS
COVER SHOT: Harriet Brown PHOTOGRAPHY: Jamie MacMillan Brighton Festival
LIVE REVIEWS
10 Our favourite upcoming gigs outside of Brighton
PRODUCTION: Adam Kidd Jonski Mason
Our recommended listings of this week’s gigs across the city
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OUT OF TOWN
EDITOR: Daniel White
We’ve got reviews from gigs across Brighton this week including Reef, Cancer Bats, Yakul, Deerhoof with Stargaze and Jungle
GAZ COOMBES We chatted to Gaz Coombes about his new album and life on tour
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CONTRIBUTORS: Jeff Hemmings Iain Lauder Ben Noble Liam McMillen Christian Middleton Kelly Westlake Paul Hill Ben Walker Tom Churchill press@brightonsfinest.com advertising@brightonsfinest.com Copyright © 2018. All rights reserved.
brightonsfinest.com /brightonsfinestpresents @brightonsfinest brightonsfinestuk @brightonsfinest
RADIO
NEWS
Jeff Hemmings Mon/Wed
BBC Music have announced a new threeday festival of music discovery. BBC Music Introducing Live will take place this winter, 8th-10th November, at London’s Tobacco Dock, in Wapping. The independent, and award-winning multiarts festival, Brainchild, has just announced the second wave of acts for this year including Shanti Celeste, Mafalda, Wu-Lu, Pinata, Consented, Alaskalaska and more.
Tuesday: Interviews with Whyte Horses and The Magic Numbers Wednesday: Interviews with The Saxophones and King Nun
Yonaka announce new track
Brighton-based four-piece Yonaka have shared a brand new track. ‘FWTB’ (‘F*****g with the boss’) is the first new material since last year’s Heavy EP. According to frontwoman Theresa Jarvis, “The song is a big ‘f**k you’ to anyone who tries to get in your way and tell you ‘no’. It’s about taking back the power, standing up for yourself and being heard.” Yonaka are certainly making themselves heard, with slots at various festivals over the next few months including Primavera and Kendal Calling.
SCHEDULE: 9 - 11PM
Kelly Westlake Tue/Thurs
Thursday: Interviews with Gram (Mind My Music) and Alex (Electric Soft Parade) and Sports Team Monday: Interview with Black Honey and Screaming Females in session Brightonsfinest.com/radio
COMING SOON ON RADIO
A soul singer with a voice of pure honey, Yazmin Lacey produces a heady mix of classic jazz and modern urban beats. From Nottingham, she is rapidly growing a reputation as an artist to watch with her unique style.
Carmody, the London singer-songwriter, has just released her first EP Skin, with songs that straddle the line between folk and pop, and after a prime slot at The Great Escape we can’t wait to chat to her about all her news.
DON’T MISS: PICK OF THE WEEK
London four-piece Teleman have announced that their new album, Family of Aliens, will be released in early September. The early singles displayed an enhanced love affair with motorik and 80s new wave. Wire are to reissue their hugely influential first three albums, Pink Flag (1977), Chairs Missing (1978) and 154 (1979) as special edition CD books, which was released 18th May, and standard edition CDs and LPs on 6th July.
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The Lovers Circus With The Turbans – The Old Market – Saturday 26th May A bank holiday celebration of music, dance and spoken word, this multi-disciplinary fiesta will see musical adventures with the likes of The Turbans, Paul Murray, Reins, Brighton band Beggars Belief, and a DJ set from LOWB. There will also be special cabaret performances and circus shows plus a craft workshop by CULT MILK. For more information visit Brightonsfinest.com/listings
SMOOVE & TURRELL + Izo FitzRoy
The Haunt, Friday 25th May Doors: 7.30PM | £15
Available in person Resident Records / Rarekind Records
Online www.skiddle.com
WWW.SMOOVEANDTURRELL.COM
GIG LISTINGS Brighton Dome Patti Smith and Her Band Saturday 2nd June Tickets: Sold Out Presented by Crosstown Concerts
Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar La Bestia De Gevaudan Tuesday 22nd May Tickets: £3.30 Presented by Halfmeltedbrain Town Of Cats + Buffo’s Wake Wednesday 23rd May Tickets: £8 Presented by A Beats, Toots & Keys Mirrored Lips Friday 25th May Tickets: £5.50 Presented by Yeah Go On Then The Rocket Dolls Saturday 26th May Tickets: £5 OTD Presented by INDYA Hærken Sunday 27th May Tickets: £5.50 Presented by Jackhammer Promotions Rudy Francisco Monday 28th May Tickets: £11.50 Presented by One Inch Badge The Milk Friday 1st June Tickets: £16.50 Presented by The MJR Group Magic Wands Saturday 2nd June Tickets: £8.80 Presented by Acid Box Carcer City Sunday 3rd June Tickets: £8 Presented by Centuries
Bau Wow Oddity Road Saturday 26th May Tickets: £5.50 Presented by Modern Age
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PREVIEWS The Hope & Ruin Levitation Room Thursday 24th May Tickets: £6.60 Presented by Acid Box Screaming Females Friday 25th May Tickets: £8.80 Presented by Love Thy Neighbour Captain Suun Saturday 26th May Tickets: £3 OTD Presented by Monkeyland Promotions Frankie & The Witch Fingers Monday 28th May Tickets: £6.60 Presented by Acid Box
LICE - The Hope & Ruin Wednesday 23rd May 2018 Satirical art-punk band LICE return to Brighton to launch their double EP It All Worked Out Great, Vol. 1&2, coming out on Balley Records. With LICE’s legendary live show, having opened for the likes of The Fall and Fat White Family, it’s bound to be a gnarly, loud and incredibly captivating performance. Support comes from Girls in Synthesis and DITZ.
Loma Thursday 30th May Tickets: £10 Presented by One Inch Badge Wussy Friday 1st June Tickets: £11 Presented by Love Thy Neighbour Thee Hypnotics Sunday 3rd June Tickets: £14 Presented by Lout Promotions Drahla Tuesday 5th June Tickets: £6.90 Presented by One Inch Badge
Avi Buffalo Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar Thursday 24th May 2018 American musician, songwriter and producer Avi Buffalo is returning to Brighton for the first time since a Great Escape performance all the way back in 2010. After announcing a European tour, including Brighton, he’s promised to play tracks from both his self-titled debut album and 2014’s At Best Cuckold.
Latest Music Bar Scott Lavene Tuesday 29th & Thursday 31st May Tickets: £6 Presented by Harry Farmer
Patterns The Future Dub Project Sunday 27th May Tickets: £7.70 Presented by Bombarda Agency Fennesz Friday 1st June Tickets: £16 Presented by Dictionary Pudding
Ezra Furman - Brighton Dome Saturday 26th May 2018 Following the release of his sixth record, Transangelic Exodus, Ezra Furman is finally making his way back to Brighton to play the Dome as part of the Brighton Festival, after being personally picked out by guest director David Shrigley. His live show is sure to be a spectacle and it will act as a celebration of the whole festival, as it is the penultimate event.
GIG LISTINGS Green Door Store
PREVIEWS The Brunswick
The Mountain Firework Company Tuesday 22nd May Tickets: £11.25 Presented by Green Door Store
Matthew Gest’s Boogie Troop Thursday 24th May Tickets: £10 Presented by Fringe Festival
Rosetta Friday 25th May Tickets: £13.20 Presented by Small Pond
Bloco Branco Live Friday 25th May Tickets: £7 Presented by Fringe Festival
Rough Hands Saturday 26th May Tickets: £5 OTD Presented by Illegal Activity
Gil Landry Tuesday 5th June Tickets: £10 Presented by Lout Promotions
Creeping Death Fest #2 Sunday 27th May Tickets: FREE Presented by Green Door Store Gene Pool Monday 28th May Tickets: £4.40 Presented by Self Promoted Boudicca Tuesday 29th May Tickets: £5 OTD Presented by QM Records Fruit & Flowers Thursday 31st May Tickets: £5.50 Presented by Green Door Store Rival Consoles Monday 4th June Tickets: £11 Presented by Melting Vinyl Slowcoaches Tuesday 5th June Tickets: FREE Presented by Neat Neat Neat
Komedia
The Prince Albert
The London African Gospel Choir Pavilion Theatre, Worthing Saturday 26th May 2018 30 years after Paul Simon’s sensational Graceland, the choir are performing a special rendition of the album adding grace (pun not intended) and beauty to what is already a classic piece of work. The sheer richness of the harmonies from the 17-piece choir will make for an awe-inspiring, overwhelming night.
Wreckless Eric Wednesday 23rd May Tickets: £11 Presented by The Prince Albert Darrell Bath Sunday 27th May Tickets: £7.70 GospelbeacH Monday 28th May Tickets: £8.80 Abi Wade Thursday 30th May Tickets: £5.50 The Scientists Sunday 3rd June Tickets: £16.50
Concorde 2
Ty Segall - Concorde 2 Monday 4th June 2018 2018 was kickstarted in tremendous fashion with Ty Segall’s tenth studio album, Freedom’s Goblin, a terrifically broad record with tonnes of scope. Now, with a remarkable amount of material to choose from, he’s playing Brighton’s Concorde 2. It’s not often that Segall tours, and certainly not to our sunny shores, so take your chance while you can.
Nick Heyward Thursday 24th May Tickets: £22.50 Presented by KT Promotions
Remi Harris Trio Thursday 24th May Tickets: £6.60 Presented by Yardbird Arts
Big Daddy Kane Saturday 26th May Tickets: 18 Presented by Beatdown
Mr B The Gentleman Rhymer Sunday 3rd June Tickets: £10 Presented by Brighton Fringe
Deerhunter Sunday 27th May Tickets: £20 Presented by One Inch Badge
The Shacks Tuesday 5th June Tickets: £7 Presented by Lout Promotions
Beth Ditto Thursday 31st May Tickets: Sold Out Presented by SJM Concerts
Utopia All-Dayer - Green Door Store - Saturday 9th June 2018 If you like a good solid eight hours of music then Utopia’s All-Dayer is well worth checking out. The show has a great line-up of acts, headlined by TOY, with support from FEWS, Is Bliss, Bad Nerves alongside Brighton regulars Atlas Wynd, Strange Cages and Sun Scream. There is something for everyone during this full day of music at a great location.
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Jeff Hemmings sat down with Black Honey’s Izzy Bee Phillips to talk about a big year ahead for the band
We all like our sugar hits. Yet, like mostly everything, the truly best things come to those who wait. Unlike the instant gratification (and immediate comedown) that processed and refined sugar gives you, honey is purer, infinitely more nutritious, and has proven long-term health benefits. Certainly, Brighton band Black Honey have been beavering away at the coalface of music making for some time now. For a while, it looked like it just may not happen for them; a series of singles and EPs, whilst displaying plenty of talent, energy and dedication, weren’t quite firing them in to the big time. Yet. However, they persevered, continued to accrue a fanbase, and last year things started to fall into place. Firstly, they began work on their debut album, before nabbing a massive tour support with fellow Brightonians Royal Blood. In anticipation of news of an album and a major UK tour, Black Honey have been on the road, priming themselves for what looks like a big year ahead. Spearheaded by the release of new single ‘Bad Friends’, the group are buzzing off the back of their shows so far. “Yeah, f*****g loved it,“ says frontwoman Izzy B Phillips. “So much fun. We’ve had crazy fans singing along, mosh pits, crowd surfing... I’ve met everyone at the merch stand, had amazing chats with people. And there’s been a great reception to all our new material as well. Really sick.”
At the end of June they’ll be playing in Finsbury Park, with some of their heroes and inspirations, including Queens of the Stone Sge, and Iggy Pop. “We’re really stoked to play with Queens. We met a couple of them before when we played with Mini Mansions and Alex Turner a few years ago. And then we supported Royal Blood for six weeks and met a couple more of the guys on the road there. We’re also doing Latitude, Truck, 2000trees and loads more. Can’t really remember them all, but we’ve got absolutely loads of them.”
“We've had crazy fans singing along, mosh pits, crowd surfing. There’s been a great reception to all our new material as well. Really sick.” The recent single, ‘Bad Friends’, caught many by surprise due to its poppier route, a direction that’s due to a great deal of thinking. “’Bad Friends’ is a good snippet into the explorations of what we’ve been doing in terms of reaching for more of a pop challenge. We wanted to see what would happen if we commented on the narrative of auto-tunes for example. What happens if an indie-rock
band does an autotune and how people position that as a criticism of someone’s singing ability, or if you can be sincere. Those are the kind of things we found really interesting. Those are the kind of questions we ask a lot in the album. We’ve explored a lot of hip-hop, and drum narratives. We’ve built a lot of the tracks based on a hip-hop perspective, and taking a rock band and making it sound like a deliberate example, like they did in the 80s when they took old 70s records and classic rock and stuff. We wanted to approach what we were making with that kind of ethos. We knew we wanted to push it. We’ve felt underwhelmed by all these indie bands. Bands we love but which didn’t sound like they were pushing hard enough, or weren’t challenging enough. We decided really early on we were going to be different from that and walk our own path.” Yes, like good old-fashioned honey, Black Honey are the real deal, a band who have worked hard to get to this stage, and now have a world of possibilities quickly opening up for them. “We’ve been building fans organically. It’s the most rewarding part of our journey. It blows my mind how people come up to us and say, ‘I saw you in 2015’. What!? ‘You’re still here!’ Wow. It’s really rewarding.” To read the full interview visit Brightonsfinest.com/blackhoney
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LIVE REVIEWS
Canada’s Cancer Bats returned to Brighton for a very special show celebrating their new album, The Spark That Moves. In a run of up-close and personal shows at 150-capacity venues, every person in attendance gave their all. Frontman Liam Cormier was in the faces of the front row from the beginning, as eager arms were thrown around his shoulders and every syllable screamed back at him by one of the most passionate Brighton crowds all year. Seeing a band like this in a venue like The Hope & Ruin is a once-in-a-lifetime moment, and that fact made this show more potent with every crowd member wringing the last drop of enjoyment from the night.
Though some of Reef’s songs may be over 20 years old now, tonight is a celebration of the here and now, no mere nostalgia trip, from a band that seem to be at the height of their powers. As clichéd as it may be, the show is a revelation from start to finish.
Fugazi’s In On The Kill Taker re-composed by Deerhoof’s Greg Saunier, for performance by minimalist orchestral collective Stargaze? This was bound to be a night to remember, an inspiring musical cross-pollination Brighton Festival can be proud of.
In celebration of the release of their latest single ‘Realigned’, Yakul played Patterns as an eight-piece, with the group’s typical electro-soul setup magnified ten fold by the fantastic addition of both a brass selection and the backing harmonies.
If Jungle’s London show in November was their comeback, then this Dome show was their rebirth. Featuring fantastic new songs, as well as old favourites, it was a gig that made it clear what it was for: a reintroduction before dropping the new record.
Read the full reviews at Brightonsfinest.com/live
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ALBUM REVIEWS Charles Watson - Now That I’m A River Out: 18th May 2018
Charles Watson departs from Slow Club’s indie-pop sound on his self-produced debut solo album. Presenting us instead with sophisticated retro pop that borrows sonic chops from Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker, whilst also looking further back to the 70s for inspiration. Its mostly mellow and melancholic vibes are well suited to a lazy summer’s afternoon.
The hugely admired guitarist and singer-songwriter drops his third solo album, a continuation of the pastoral jazz-folk-progrock vibes of Primrose Green and Golden Sings That Have Been Sung. At times meandering, at others focussed and surgical, Deafman Glance veers from the uber-languid to King Crimson-esque franticness. It’s another beauty from the Chicagoan.
Ryley Walker – Deafman Glance Out: 18th May 2018
Parquet Courts ‑ Wide Awake! Out: 18th May 2018
Parquet Courts have made an album which invites you to grow with them. Where you found comfort in albums like Light Up Gold and Human Performance, you’ll find resolution on Wide Awake! They’ve brought everything brilliant about the band together, developed it all, and made an album which sounds like they are more comfortable in their own skin.
Everything about their The Magic Numbers ‑ comeback has seemed Outsiders grittier and darker. From Out: 11th May 2018 the black and white press shots to the 70s-style rock anthems throughout their new record, Outsiders sees the quartet animated and impassioned with a new lease of life; containing the band’s trademark capability for melody buoyed by a newfound, sinister and gritty personality. Read the full reviews at Brightonsfinest.com/albums
NIGHTLIFE
OUT OF TOWN
Digital Mysticz Friday 25th May Concorde 2 11pm - 4am
MJ Cole / Moony Friday 25th May Hideout 11am - 5am
Phoebe Bridgers Wednesday 23rd May Islington Assembly Hall 7.00pm
Cigarettes After Sex Thursday 24th May O2 Academy Brixton 7.00pm
Rusko Friday 25th May Volks 11pm - 6am
Mungos Hi Fi Saturday 26th May Concorde 2 11pm-4am
Pale Waves Thursday 24th May Heaven, London 6.30pm
Deerhunter Friday 25th May KOKO, London 7.00pm
Shanti Celeste / Call Super / Peach / Momo Saturday 26th May Patterns 11pm-4am
Wah Brighton Beach Party Saturday 26th May The Arch & Hideout 7pm - 5am
The London African Gospel Choir Saturday 26th May Pavilion Theatre, Worthing 8.30pm
Snapped Ankles Saturday 26th May The Dome & Boston Music Room, London 7.00pm
Freebass Freeparty 10th Birthday Bash Sun 27th - Mon 28th May Volks, 3pm - 7am
Sonny Fodera Sunday 27th May The Arch 11pm - 5am
Every Time I Die Tuesday 29th May The Garage, London 7.00pm
Bully Tuesday 29th May The Boileroom, Guildford 7.00pm
Full event listings at Brightonsfinest.com/listings
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Q&A
GAZ COOMBES
Gaz Coombes is one of those wonderful examples of a lead singer going solo and completely smashing it. Since leaving seminal Britpop group Supergrass, he’s released three fantastic records, including the truly excellent new album World’s Strongest Man. Brightonsfinest sat down with Gaz to talk about the new record, touring and more. World’s Strongest Man contains the thoughts and emotions of a maturing man. Was this a natural progression? It was just instinctive really, I would never really calculate anything in that way. I wouldn’t want to mould a sound, or create a sound to appeal to anybody. I wasn’t like “Yeah, I’m 42, I should probably sound a bit more mature”. It’s way more visceral, it’s just a feel. As you grow older you look outward a bit more and look around you. There’s all sorts of reasons why it doesn’t sound like music I wrote when I was 18, but I think that’s necessary and it should be that way, to evolve. This is Gaz 2.0, baby! What was your inspiration for
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World’s Strongest Man? The title is poking fun at that ridiculous, entitled alpha male thing. It’s feeling more and more old fashioned as we go forward. It’s just a playful dig at that really. The album itself is a snapshot of my headspace. So, you’re touring soon? Yeah. It will be a great few months actually, I’m all ready to go. The band is up and running, I’ve got a full band doing the album. It sounds amazing. Really, really great, I’m just really excited with what they’ve done. We’ve managed to translate the record quite beautifully live. It’s a very exciting thing. To read the full Q&A visit Brightonsfinest.com