Brighton Unsigned Magazine - Jul/Aug 16 - Issue 16

© ISSUE 16 • JUL/AUG 2013 • FREE

This Month With his ethics of supporting artists for the love of the music rather than the thickness of his wallet, Mark Stack has gained himself a reputation as a promoter who bands love to play for. That in turn has created nights of stunning, entertaining music that has the Seven Stars on Ship Street packed out.

With an impressive sound and lighting system, professional soundmen, in a welcoming vibrant city centre pub, the audiences love Zooberon.

KAYE SARAH INGLIS: OPEN MIC NIGHTS PAGE

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MATT UPCHUCK: SKIRTS INTERVIEW PAGE

In addition to Zooberon events at the Seven Stars pub on the first and third Friday of the month, there is now a monthly Zooberon Calling! at the Brunswick Pub in Hove.

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LOW DOWN: HIGH TYDE

FEATURED ARTIST MOK

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Mark’s aim to be a stepping-stone for bands before they move on to bigger things is born out on the eve of Zooberon’s second anniversary in July with The Propellers supporting the Rolling Stones in Hyde Park. They previously performed at several Zooberon gigs in 2011/12.

With shared ideals it was somewhat inevitable that Zooberon and Brighton Unsigned started supporting each other and more recently working together. As you may have noticed on the front cover, the magazine is now associated with Zooberon. It’s not a merger, we will both be doing what we do separately but there are a number of joint projects we are going to be working on in the near future which we are pretty excited about.

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E.P./ALBUM REVIEWS PAGE

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MEADOWLANDS FESTIVAL

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FIND US AT: WWW.BRIGHTONUNSIGNED.CO.UK WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/BRIGHTONUNSIGNED

WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/BRIGHTONUNSIGNED FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @BTONUNSIGNED Editor:

Jordan Thomas

Deputy Editor:

Steven Probets

Proofreader: Alex Clouter

Front Cover/Feature Photography: ©Lindsey Davis Photography lindseydavisbrighton.wordpress.com

Website Design & Developement:

Jak Kimsey

www.brightonunsigned.co.uk

Writers:

Jordan Thomas Harry Leighton Matt Upchuck Cindy Cheng Kaye Inglis Coralie Oddy Emily Bielby

Open Mic Night BRIGHTON & HOVE Brighton and Hove are blessed when it comes to open mic venues. Practically every night of the week budding musicians can find somewhere to turn up, plug in and play. But with venues struggling to make money and such a proliferation of nights to choose from on any given night, are we in danger of having too many open mic nights? Is it really a case of too much of a good thing?

Listeners are often a secondary consideration to open mic hosts and venues, but to performers they are vital – one of the things that most puts performers off a night is not having many listeners. Venues that extend drinks or food offers to everyone who comes along to an open mic night came out as the most popular in my research. The most interesting find, however, was the disparity between what performers like to perform and listeners like to listen to – everyone who responded Let’s face it, musicians – myself included – are rarely said they enjoyed comedy, but few performers liked blessed with a large amount of disposable income. to perform this. Spoken word and poetry were also Some like a drink to steady the popular among listeners, alongside “Numbers in pubs are down nerves before performing, but the acoustic music. in general, and diversification majority I have encountered at open mic nights don’t spend a huge and special offers will certainly One organiser of an open mic in amount on drinks at an open mic help to pull in performers and London contacted me to say that night. Many of the performers also electronic musicians were often listeners alike.” have day jobs or college courses to made to feel unwelcome, or less attend, meaning that a huge night out on a Tuesday is welcome, than their acoustic counterparts. To offer not a particularly appealing option. something different they had decided to organise an entirely electronic open mic night. Of course, when I recently conducted a survey into open mics and a you bring backing tracks into the equation the line free drink for performers was less popular than I’d between where open mic stops and karaoke starts expected – one student respondent admitted a free becomes blurred, but that is a topic for another time. drink was nice, but rated good sound and a nice venue as more important. However, free drinks promotions Going the other way entirely, Robin Coward and Scott are a good way of getting performers in the door as Fallows at The Prince Arthur have recently launched once they have had one drink people are likely to buy Broken Mic Night on Mondays, a night without more. Speculate to accumulate, as the saying goes, and technology (except the electric piano), which aims to open mic nights can be more of an earner. have entirely acoustic music with no amplification, with a sign on the door asking anyone coming in to Increasingly, open mics are offering further incentives respect the atmosphere and enjoy the music. to performers. The Wednesday night open mic session at the Medussa Bar give live streams during the night Numbers in pubs are down in general, and diversification on the Internet and provides videos of the performers and special offers will certainly help to pull in performers to share, while the Thursday session at The George and listeners alike. Performers can be broadly split Payne, Hove, offers a £5 food menu to anyone who into those who like to travel to different venues, using performs alongside the chance to become one of the sites such as Barry Pearson’s excellent open mic guide showcase acts at the pub if the night goes well. Each (http://brightonandhoveopenmicnights.weebly.com/ week an act opens and closes the night, giving them a index.html) to find venues, and those who like to longer set and exposure to a wider audience. perform at the same venue week in, week out. As well as myriad open mic nights, Brighton and Hove are also According to George Payne host Robin Coward, who unquestionably blessed with many talented musicians. has been organising open mics in the city since the Personally, I don’t think there are too many open mics dawn of time (or for several years, at least), choice of as it’s great to have so many places to perform, and to venue is important. hear a wide range of music. However, diversification is also important to offer performers and audiences alike “Open mics need to be run well and people need to be a little bit of something different. made welcome,” Robin explains. “Everyone needs to feel comfortable and it’s important that musicians feel WORDS: KAYE SARAH INGLIS they are being listened to.”

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it simple. There was never any conscious effort to make the lyrics good either but if we did come up with a riff that was a bit tacky or whatever, I don’t think we’d have a problem whacking it in. As long as it sounds good.

We are just a two-piece there’s no point on not being what you are, just be punk about it.

How do you guys write together?

Matt Upchuck delves in the life of the Skirts...

Eddie (vox/bass) and Dave (vox/drums) So for anyone who doesn’t know, what do you sound like?

Well you can dance to it, it’s poppy but it’s filthy and horrible and it’ll slap you in the face.

You have a lot of YouTube videos...

Video is such a great medium to share on, it goes on Facebook and other social networking like Twitter. I think that’s the only way to get your music out there now. People are more inclined to watch an interesting video than press ‘play’ on Soundcloud.

There’s no set process really, we’ve done it a couple of times where we have swapped over instruments and we come up with some really cool stuff and then we swap back again as neither of us are geniuses on the other’s instruments really.There’s lots of mucking about: ‘What do you think of this riff?’; ‘It’s not very good’; ‘What do you think of this riff?’; ‘It’s really good’.

Whenever we play something new we record it on our phones so we both have catalogues of old stuff, so if we need a riff for, say, the end of a song we go back to our old stuff and go, ‘there’s a really good fucking riff’, let’s put that on the end of it.

With just drums, distorted bass and two voices how do you keep your songs varied?

Well it depends what sort of song I’ve written. Sometimes I’ll write a kind of poppy song like ‘Spit Shake’ or something like that, you can just sing it and another time we’ll do a punky song like ‘Temptress’ or ‘Fuck All Night’ where I just shout it so I think that’s one thing to it. And Dave will back up on the choruses and stuff like that to keep it varied. And we’re copying different genres as well. It might be glam, it might be punk, might be grunge, might be whatever, but we just steal something and then run with it.

We went through a stage of making a video for every song. Every song we Get about much? recorded we made a video, even if we’re not in it.We searched YouTube for some kind of sexy footage and then put that alongside We played at a festival in Jersey. That was a weird “With any of our early our tunes so that people would be more inclined to weekend, would love to do it again. If anyone who reads recordings, we just took share it and get our band out there. ‘Spit Shake’ was this magazine is from the Isle of Man I’d love to go out probably our biggest budget video which cost all of Dave’s laptop into the little there and do a gig. Or the Isle of Wight. Or any islands practice studio and press about ten pounds.We got in a director but I’m probably looking to book us. record.” not allowed to say his name, he’ll tell me off! He’s a good friend of ours who wanted to help us out and do Tell us about your view on the Brighton Scene something. We both came up with the idea of a robbery in a nightclub but it kind of evolved into us playing in a nightclub; we just made it as seedy as We’re big supporters of it. With the Brighton scene we found that there possible - all the clichés are in there. were so many bands, it was hard getting people to gigs - so many gigs, so many different types of bands. At one point in Brighton everyone wanted Are The Skirts a two-piece band by design? to be in an Indie band but now there is so much choice there didn’t seem to be much cohesion. There was never any unity, too much rivalry and We were both in Justice Force Five, a superhero rock band basically and arm folding. I think the Brighton scene is starting to turn and it’s not just there were six of us in the band. We were really good mates but it just got us doing that, there are other people doing other stuff. I don’t give a crap to the point where there were so many people in the band and so many where we sit in the standings of things, I just want to see things happen. different personalities going on, each with their own ideas… I think we were just having a fag outside one of our gigs and we thought, “shall we just We put on our own club night “Late Night Lingerie” because we did this do something with us two?” We were both a bit pissed off with the bullshit one gig for The Great Escape where we played at five or six in the morning that goes with being a band with loads of people basically. We said, “Let’s and I thought it was the best gig ever. I decided that I wanted to do this a lot just make it really filthy and horrible and see what happens.” We wanted and I want other bands to do it.Very punk, very DIY, just see what happens, to make it as loud as possible with as few people and I think we’ve done no-one else is going to do something like that. that. If someone doesn’t complain that we’re too loud - it wasn’t a good gig.

Basically, if we haven’t pissed someone off.

What about the wider music industry? You big fans?

Your sound is distinctly lo-fi and at times very gritty…

We always wanted to do our recordings as DIY and as punk as possible.

With any of our early recordings, we just took Dave’s laptop into the little practice studio and press record.Then we’d do the vocals over the top and there we go. When we went into an actual studio we had a real awakening, as well as doing it quite lo-fi we could also actually do that in the studio too.

Our new stuff we recorded really well and then tried to make it sound as shit as possible rather than having something shit in the first place that you can’t really do much with. Because of the band we were in before we made a very conscious decision to do something that’s really simple. We wanted to write songs that were just a minute and a half long or two minutes.

Just say what we wanted to say - no bullshit basically. Unpretentious. Keep

It’s fucking awful. It’s fucked basically. Absolutely fucked, which is why we are doing things DIY anyway. You can get your own songs worldwide without touring your arse off round the whole world. You can put a video up there and then tour the U.K. In theory.The Internet is an annoyingly amazing tool.

It’s like crack - you get addicted to it.

Any good bands our readers should be looking out for?

Demob Happy, Spit Shake Sisters, Ragweed… they are lovely guys.

Serpentines: we love them. Plenty of bands we go to all their gigs and we go to theirs, we’re like a pack of wolves.

www.skirtsband.co.uk 5

E.P. REVIEWS

HARRY LEIGHTON

WORDS: JORDAN THOMAS

One of the emerging young bands of Brighton that has been steadily gaining a huge fan base (3000+ on Facebook) is High Tyde, certainly to keep an eye out for. High Tyde all met through mutual and different bands with Louis and Spencer meeting on a music course. Through mutual taste in Indie and Rock, they invited Cody along and before long, their first E.P. “Meal Deal” was recorded. To further their sound even more for extra material, Cody was invited to join the team (who shared a previous band with Spencer). Upon creating their sound “Musically, we are really inspired by where we live and the experiences we’ve had in the past. We try to give a new fresh vibe which is relevant to feeling alive and young.”

With building their fan base, the way to do it is to gig regularly, but High Tyde has also been lucky enough to play at the most prestigious Brighton venues. “Obviously being a Brighton band, The Haunt and Concorde2 are the places to play. We were very lucky to have been asked to play these gigs and straight away, we took the offer; we started to promote them immediately as much as we possibly could to ensure the great crowds and all round, two great gigs.” No doubt for a young band as themselves, they would be

envied by a lot of other local bands! Surely with getting 3000+ Facebook fans, surely they’ll end up getting stalkers or something? “We wouldn’t call any of our fans stalkers as such but we do have the odd couple who just loves us to bits. We love each and every one of our fans and really enjoy replying to tweets and messages from them. What can we say? We love the support!”

One of the difficulties a young band has to go through is being underaged (under 18) which some venues could have explicit rules for over-18s only, especially if fans are under 18 too. “Normally most of the venues we play are at the most 16+ which isn’t a problem with our fans because most of them are of that age anyway. We haven’t yet come across any problems with fans no being allowed in to our gigs or us not being able to go on because of our age. Let’s hope it stays that way.” www.facebook.com/wearehightyde “TEAL EP” Available Now. Download on iTunes.

Next gig: July 27th @ Bognor Rox - Bognor Regis Aug 17th @ Arundel Festival (headline) - Arundel

Genre: Punk / Grunge / Surf VARIOUS TRACKS Genre: Electronica Electronic-indie duo IYES have amassed almost 100,000 soundcloud plays, performed at the Great Escape Festival, and caused an animated buzz across multiple music blogs with their invigorating, ethereal melodies. Strongly likened to Purity Ring and The XX, minus their melancholy tone, IYES have produced three beautiful demos that capture real human emotions and are filled to the brim with hope.

Having recently seen the Thieves By The Code (TBTC) play an extraordinarily exciting set at The Blind Busker, my expectations for this E.P. were pretty high. The underlying themes of the E.P. are fat chugging riffs, various vocal styles, heavy drums and trick-time signatures glued together with simple riff-driven songs

‘Lighthouse’ opens with delicate warbles alongside Melis’s softly spoken words, “My love is deep, as deep as the ocean”, which eases the listener in comfortably, as an XX-style guitar begins to play and mesmerising electronic synthesisers start to pulsate. The synthesisers develop, expand and become layered as Josh’s strong, assertive voice draws the listener further into the song, and creates an electric ambience that any established artist would be envious of, as the duality of the vocalists takes the song to a new peak.

Randy Owl starts the E.P. off with a sort of choked-sounding broken riff that would not sound out of place on a Shellac record, accented by an understated drum-beat but with some cheeky trick-time drum fills for edge. There are of course evident influences in here, not least of all the Josh Homme style riffs, fuzzy bass (Corner Of Your Eye), Kyuss-like groove, Fu Manchu sludge and the aggression of some of those early Soundgarden tunes (My Mojo’s Dead). ‘Handle With Care’ could be considered a musical progression from the stripped down garage theme evident throughout the E.P. The song consists of several different parts glued together with a confidently belted-out Zeppalinesque descending three-chord riff so intrinsically infectious it’s going to keep me awake tonight. ‘Right Where It Belongs’ is the furthest TBTC stray towards something that might be considered the middle of the road in that although brilliantly executed, it sounds a little introverted but hey, that could be the breakthrough single. I could actually imagine it on Radio1, right up until it goes ape-shit at the end.

Their second demo, ‘Glow’, envelops the listener in a shroud of bright, heartening sound which gently creates an aesthetic atmosphere that really does make you glow. Upbeat bass in cohesion with layered electronic synthesisers, xylophone licks and an expertly played guitar reflects the warm feeling of love, hand-in-hand with the lyrics; “Held your flame on the beach, it made me glow”. Decadent cymbals pour into the song as the energetic, emotional chorus explodes and the bass quickens; the dynamic pace that is present displays the duo’s diversity as musicians, which contrasts completely to the slower pace that is apparent in ‘Lighthouse’.

There is a wonderful confidence throughout in the simple, which allows for a lot of room for some crazy drum changes, trick-time signatures and a seemingly infinite palette of vocal styles. The drumming seems to be able to toy with and alter the riffs, bringing out different takes on the same tune, whilst keeping an ear out for what the bass is doing is enough to hold your attention for much of the record.

‘Daddy’ carries on where ‘Glow’ leaves off with electronic wails that echo into infinity, while Josh’s vocals reach out to us, pleasantly arousing our senses in unification with a subtle bass and a lightly played guitar.

Thieves By The Code are a band who have found remarkable musical confidence and utilise a wide pallet of sounds to belt out multifarious brutal riffs. In a finite world, TBTC must have some of the coolest stripped down stoner guitar riffs that are simply possible to conjur. The musicianship herein is easy to overlook and despite remaining in the shadow of the inventive songs is the driving force behind its effortless delivery. The music and song writing has evolved from their first E.P. into a many headed monster captured through an uncommonly precise and balanced production into an exciting, accessible forward-looking record.

WWW.THIEVESBYTHECODE.COM Check out the link and then go watch them do it live. See you there.

IYES display their massive potential across the three demos in a gracious manner that showcases their talent and excellent craftsmanship with music; they are a delightful duo that Brighton should definitely be proud of.

E.P. REVIEW

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MATT UPCHUCK

WWW.WEAREIYES.COM

With the release of their E.P. in March, “Stay Young and FCKD Up”, Tales Of George have been turning heads aplenty in the Brighton punk scene; the band already having attained a respectable fan following. This five-track EP offers a further insight to the raw, angst-ridden and adrenaline-fuelled style that Tales Of George masterfully pull off.

Untamed, penetrating vocals soar above the fast paced rhythm and distorted guitar in a cohesive manner that fits perfectly with the brash punk songs ‘In My Head’ and ‘Bows and Arrows’. Themes of escapism, fighting personal demons and the unbeatable notion of feeling alive are common across the E.P. and are undeniably intertwined in the standout track, “Stay Young and FCKD Up”. Purposely out of tune gangvocals, irresistible fast paced guitar rhythms, short syntax and a catchy chorus explode across two minutes of pure chaos and excitement. The song captures the feeling of being young with a reckless abandon of being intoxicated; comparisons can be made here between Tales of George and the kings of punk rock, The Sex Pistols. Furthermore, the guitar rhythms and distortions can be compared respectfully with more recent contemporaries, such as The King Blues and Lower Than Atlantis.

After the burst of energy mid E.P., the fourth song, “Give Me Peace” begins with a slower, darker, more atmospheric feel that hints at the struggles of fighting personal issues and ignorance in others before erupting with heavy bass lines under the lyrics, “Give me peace ‘cause I can’t f**king breathe”. The harmony between the macabre stanzas and edgy tones of the chorus further highlights the expertly crafted grunge style and is also seen in the last track, “Cocktail of K”. Drawing influences from Nirvana, this song is an excellent way to finish off the voyage that the E.P. has taken the listener on.

The contagious lyrics, deep breakdowns and manic guitar playing that weaves in and out across these delightful tracks gives the listener a sense of vitality mixed with the darker sides of life in a way that will become ingrained in your thoughts. The songs translate perfectly to teenagers and younger adults, and will most definitely cause a riot live.

WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/TALESOFGEORGE

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Hearing the familiar, gentle rattle of the drum symbols and the jangly guitars, you expect the most infectious indie anthem. But suddenly, rupturing out is a young, cheeky, hip hop vocal. Before there is time to fully digest this, the recognisable, smooth and silky tones of YouTube sensation and Brighton’s Hobbie Stuart joins him. Instantly, my eyebrows are raised and I realise I have stumbled across something special. Not to be put off by the odd name, those curious enough will soon see that this is only the tip of the iceberg, inviting intrigue and accomplishing surprise in their collaborative efforts.

Less heavy than The Twang and cooler than Rizzle Kicks, I am left struggling to draw comparisons. It is a wonder why not more like them exist but the

CINDY CHENG

THE MEOW MEOWS

“SOMEHOW WE MET”

band have made it work so deceitfully effortlessly, that it seems a simple combination when listening to them but actually, it is a testament to their talents. Stuart’s mesmerising, reverberating vocals can melt even the coldest of hearts. I could listen to him for hours, while Tigger injects a harder, confident edge to the assemblage.

Their influences range from Oasis, Girls, Bombay Bicycle Club, The Rolling Stones through to Professor Green, Plan B and the Jackson 5. With such an eclectic range, all of which are favourites amongst my own personal music collection, it is no shock that the band have produced something innovative and simply brilliant. The rapping stays true to its genre while the indie elements are just as inoffensive making a very pleasing and exciting listen. Having made their only E.P. in 2010, it still begs attention, better late than never.

In the meantime to subconsciously singing along to the standout ‘Gemini’, you can keep up with the more recently active Hobbie Stuart’s musical pursuits.

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/BELLASEYEBROW

E.P. REVIEW

EMILY BIELBY

LEE MARTIN

Genre: Acoustic WWW.SOUNDCLOUD.COM/NOFACE13-1

Lee Martin, best known as The Cardinal, is a musician based in Sussex, most people may recognise the name from his former band The Blue Stragglers and present band Tied To The Mast, but this is his first record flying solo, and it’s called ‘Worry No More’. The record is different whilst still hinting at the pleasurable similarity to that of his past work, the first track ‘Company’ introduces it as a very monotonous attempt, the chorus does a good job at disguising that claim and when things pick up it’s evident the rest will deliver a finely honed talent.

a sentimental feel, are demonstrated on both ‘Fresh Tide and ‘Out My Skin’ with the introduction to ‘Fresh Tide’ being a fine slice to the Americana swing, but the mood soon changes with ‘Street Vasoline’, possibly being the best track on the album; it makes for an interesting change in direction, a solid effort both musically and lyrically, doing a lot more then tickling the listener’s senses.

‘Get There’ ups the tempo somewhat as Martin delivers a fresh helping of acoustic ripeness with more of an upbeat rhythm, as it finishes with a nice sharp finish.‘Worry No More’, and ‘Riverbridge’ sees a return to the wistful harmonies, but were treated to additional piano playing on the introduction to ‘Riverbridge’ which perhaps stops things from turning stale. Notes, laden with

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ALBUM REVIEW

Overall the flaws are limited, the only minor downfall was that he perhaps lets emotion slip in to his vocal delivery more than necessary but Martin has a fine way with his lyrics and ‘What’s New’ and ‘Street Vasoline’ best capture this. Musically, variety screams at you with some finely plucked guitar playing to more technical compositions; the album perhaps takes us to emotional places at times but pouring a generous amount of soul in to his music more than makes up for it and in this sense the record works a treat.

Genre: Ska / Garage / Soul The Meow Meows are a nine-piece from Brighton who formed in 2005 and have been making music ever since. Their eagerly anticipated second album, Somehow We Met, was produced by reggae legend Prince Fatty and is well worth a listen.

Describing themselves as “ska ‘n’ soul from Brighton”, The Meow Meows are in fact much more than that and the influences in Somehow We Met have been drawn far and wide, from The Doors to modern chart pop.

The album bursts into your ears with a punchy opening track, ‘England Is Over’, with funky ska undertones and politicallycharged lyrics. It breaks down into carnival beats and, like most of the album, is a song that makes you want to move around.

There’s very much a 2Tone sound to the whole of this album, with artists such as The Beat and Bad Manners (both of whom The Meow Meows have supported in the past) clearly influencing to their overall sound. Track two, ‘Rude Girl’s Gone To Jail’, is very much a reggae track, but the vocals of Danny and Hanna give this an interesting twist. They are unlike regular reggae vocals, cleaner and more reminiscent of modern pop singers including Lily Allen –

E.P. REVIEW

Genre: Pop / Hip-Hop / Indie

BELLA’S EYEBROW

E.P. REVIEW

CORALIE ODDY WWW.SKIEFPROMOTIONS.ORG

FRESH LIKE DEXIE

“FRESH”

Genre: Neo-Funk Fresh Like Dexie’s new E.P. Fresh creates a rich complexity of exciting sound. On second track ‘Light Me Up’, Danielle Bruton seductively purrs “you’re electric, you, you’re eccentric to me”, and she may as well be talking about the E.P. itself.

KAYE SARAH INGLIS

this might sound odd but trust me, it works.

‘Why Why Why’, the third track, is a bit irritating in its repetitive and stuttery vocals but nevertheless is also very much a foottapper of a tune.The vocal work on this track is reminiscent of the Go Team, and there’s some brilliant saxophone from Claire Ellis.

Later tracks have influences of The Specials (‘Ghost Town’ in particular on ‘Banknote’, which sees some interesting vocal effects nicely deployed) and there is a definite carnival undertone to the whole album. ‘Disaster! Disaster!’ is one of my favourite tracks on the recording, injecting a much-needed summery feel with some great echo work on the vocals.

The second half of the album (what would have been the B side in vinyl days) has a more rock-influenced sound in many places and in the tremendously catchy ‘Might As Well Be You’, the Hammond organ throws a nod back to The Doors’ ‘Come On Baby Light My Fire’. There are Arthur Brown influences in this track too, and again in ‘Do Anything’.

‘If You Were My Boy’is the penultimate track on the album and another of my favourites, with strong undertones of The Beat and Bad Manners again, coupled with the interesting vocals that make this album stand out.

The final track, ‘(I Don’t Know Why) I Love You’ initially sounds slightly out of place with the rest of the work, beginning in much more of a standard rock/pop vein. It’s still a well-constructed track however, and while the ska tones are, err, toned down, they are still there.

Overall this is a very well constructed album. A strong, up-beat album with catchy songs you want to dance to. Released 29th July! .

WWW.THEMEOWMEOWS.COM WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/THEMEOWMEOWS The electricity comes across in every track in intense, get-on-yourfeet-and-dance energy, and the E.P. really benefits from the lively contributions of its collaborators. Ranging from saxophonists to rappers, they blend seamlessly with the band; between them and the core members, you can definitely feel the spark.

The eccentricity stems from the E.P.’s style-hopping, genre-bending blend of music. ‘Fifty Shades of Crazy’ starts with rapping over a mellow hip hop beat, but then slips into trip hop, funk and the odd stutter of ska. Then, for the last part of the song, it’s as if all these genres decided to go to the pub together for a jazz jam. The transition from the simple repetition of hip hop keyboard into spiraling jazz-piano solos is particularly pleasing.

This is all the more impressive when you realise the whole E.P. was recorded live, which is a testament to how tight the band are on stage. Fresh gives you a really good idea of what to expect live from Fresh Like Dexie and if funk and soul are your thing that should be a lot.

WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/FRESH.LIKE.DEXIE

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© HOLLY CROUCHER, BEZANN PHOTOGRAPHY

Emily Bielby catches up with MOK, one of the most exciting bands to come out of Brighton..

So you’ve been around since 2008/2009, I believe...how did the band come together and was it by chance or did you set out to become rock stars?

We got together around 2010/2011, we had all been good friends for years doing music separately, then one summer we got together and started making songs just for fun and it all took off from there.

Has music always played an important role in your lives, from early ages?

Yes, all of us have been playing since we were big enough to.

You are based in Brighton, with Brighton and music going hand in hand; it’s very popular for musicians, why would you say that is?

Brighton’s a very creative city and has a lot of live venues, so it’s a great place to get started.

The Haunt, Concorde 2 and Audio are all great and we want to say Prince Albert as we played there a lot when we were starting.

If the world was to end tomorrow - I don’t know say for argument’s sake a zombie apocalypse 10

We’d get down to the vintage weapon shop in the Lanes and kit ourselves out in armour with samurai swords, muskets and a couple of morning stars.

Are there any Brighton based bands that inspire you?

All types of music inspire us but the Brightonbased bands we recommend you check out are Jennifer Left, Dr Bluegrass, and DJ/producers DrDr.

Where are the best places you’ve played and has there been anything obscure happened?

Shakedown Festival, Metropolis Studios, outside Brighton’s Churchill Square and on a South Coast train from Brighton to Shoreham. One obscure thing about playing on that train was that we recorded it and chucked it on Facebook where it got shared like crazy and reached about 30,000 people in 24 hours.

How do you guys feel about your music and how things have progressed?

It’s been great, 2012 was an amazing year for us, supporting loads of cool artists such as Man like Me, Reverend and the Makers.

Playing main stage at Shakedown Festival was a highlight and we feel our music and show are getting better all the time. We are all well happy with the reaction we’ve been getting and we’re focused on taking our music to the next level.

Music can sometimes influence people to change, has it changed you or your lives in any way?

Music is a big part of life so, yes, it’s inspired personal growth. It’s brought us together and unified our abilities into one force. We like to think of ourselves as an incredible intergalactic flying juggernaut, broadcasting electric tigers into the cosmos.

Can you remember your first ever gig and have you learnt a lot from that performance as musicians?

The first gig was at a venue in Brighton called Hector’s House, which is now known as the Blind Tiger Club. I guess we learnt to drink less and practise more.

Which festivals do you enjoy attending in the summer and are there any you’re down to play?

The festivals we love the most are Glastonbury, Secret Garden Party, Bestival, and SW4… Sonar Festival in Barcelona is pretty special. There’re several festivals we’re playing this year, we love it – it’s where MOK feel most at home.

What plans lie ahead of you for the rest of the year… an album perhaps?

We’re working on a whole new set and getting new equipment to cater for a bigger stage show. We’re planning to get on the road and tour, and we also have some very exciting news regarding releases in the near the future. We’re going to keep doing what we’re doing and make sure 2013 is our year!

WORDS: EMILY BIELBY FISHEYE IMAGERY: © LINDSEY DAVIS PHOTOGRAPHY

Are there any instruments you can’t play but would like to learn?

Yes we have heaps of unusual/annoying instruments lying around our studio that deserve proficient ability, however Gracey has been developing some kazoo skills that are not to be fucked with.

Your single ‘Rufio’ is out now; can you share with us the inspiration, thoughts and theories behind this?

Our first single was a song called ‘Hey’, which had quite big pop style production, whereas ‘Rufio’ shows another side - Simple bollock-rocking douchebaggery.

Talking inspiration, what is your all time favourite lyric?

© LINDSEY DAVIS PHOTOGRAPHY

For aspiring musicians visiting Brighton for the first time, which venues would you point them in the direction to?

broke out - what would be the last thing you would HAVE to do in Brighton?

It’s hard to answer because we all love different music from different decades, and lyrics can affect you in different ways on different days but...who let the dogs out?!

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tive folk / gypsy / alterna

APPLES & EVE www.applesandeve.co .uk

/applesandeve /applesandeve

Stage: Woodland Set time: 1pm.

Aside from a very heavy rainy first night, Meadowlands 2013 ended up a scorcher of a weekend with a busy and festive vibe. For Brighton Unsigned’s first festival trip, bands were met, beer (and lovely veggie food) were consumed and plenty of dancing. How did our favourite Brighton bands find the festival? cutecore / acid punk osmonds on cheap whizz

BENTCOUSIN www.bentcousin.com

/bentcousin /bentcousin supply of fruit, and our uncle he met by the fire pit.

Stage: The big one.

Set time: Sunday (way too

early).

Weather report: Dizzy dizzy sunlight. usic Festival highlight (non-m essfully related): The Bentettes succ ly of smuggling their weekends supp bottles on vodka concealed in lucozade can get Friday was a major relief - Sofie funny without a drink.

Festival highlight (music play related): Listening to the DJ afternoon in Motown records on Sunday Whalesun the sun outside the pub, and playing along on tambourine.

How was the gig?

Dreamy. how On a scale to one to ten the set? drunk were you during mon vegan Oh, we are straight edge Mor k. wee this s Goth t during Did anyone eat any frui ys bring a the festival? Yes, we alwa

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ate a fruit

bringing What do you reg ret not to the festival? A sense of trepidation. s? If Did you go on the fair ride glue on so, which one? After the of time in Saturday we spent quite a lot Fun. of se the Hou

Weather report: The sun has got his hat on, hip hip hip hoo ray.. laa la laa..

Festival highligh t (non-music related): Definitely the cosy fire in the woods and all the pretty lights.

Festival highligh t (music related): Got to be ‘Laish’ @ The Woodland Stage.

They’ve got an incredible energy on stage and are all very talented musici ans! You should check their new alb um ‘Obituaries’!

How was the gig ? It was so lovely!!

We had great fun doi ng that gig! It’s always a bit strange though, playing in the middle of the day, but the weather was so good and so ma ny people turned up.

It was great!

On a scale to on e to ten how drunk were you during the set?

Far too sober! We arrived at the festiva l with just about eno ugh time to set up and get on stage so there wasn’t much time for drinking. Th is all changed after we finished!

Did anyone eat any fruit during the festival? Ap ples of course!

What do you reg ret not bringing to the festival?

My big, warm, cosy jumper.... oh & lots of Bindis & glitter!

Did you go on th e fair rides? If so, which one?

Oh dear.Yes! Stupid ly, Gar & I went on the one where the chairs go round and round in the air, which was a big mis take after too much whisky! We ended up having to lie down in the grass for a lon g time afterwards, to then discover we ’d been lying in a bed of stinging nettles!

Worst experienc e at the festival: The ride, nettle ‘n’ whisky story!

Summarise the festival: Oh, Meadowlands is a great little festival!

We’ve been coming here for three years in a row now and eve ry year it just keeps on growing and growing, getting better and better. It’s really beautiful and has a lot of meaningf ul memories for us as a band!

What’s next for the band? Well, we’re about to go into the studio to record our next sin gle, which will be out this summer, then bac k in the studio to record the album! We ’re also playing a FREE gig @ Green Door Store on Frid ay 9 August!

festival: Worst experience at the ential Not enough anxiety or exist , a major dread on waking each morning disappointment to us all. : Summarise the festival .

Like being in Brighton in a field d? We What’s next for the ban m due are recording tracks for an albu of gigs out early next year. Playing lots hfest in in London and playing the Patc Brighton on 10 July. fine line We will continue to walk that The Velvet between One Direction and ts we know Underground but in our hear m.

Wha be ys alwa will

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soul / ska / garage

MEOW MEOWS /themeowmeows /the-meow-meows drunker than that and I wouldn’t be singing but lying on the floor growling.”

Stage: Sound Harvest Stage Set time: 9.15pm Weather report: Summer almost here...

is

usic Festival highlight (non-m IST) related): HANNA (VOCAL 2am - it “A reviving cheese toastie at ” was both warming and sobering!

t spot of ALEX - “6-7. The perfect swee ed to drunkenness where I’m not root r but not the spot through sheer terro h that I quite jumping around so muc miss all the notes.”

Festival highlight (music related): - “A DANNY GIRL (VOCALIST) along ing jump kids g youn of full tent yes, air… the in s hand folk, old to us yes, yes.”

, one DANNY GIRL - “All of them through to ten.” t Did anyone eat any frui NA - “If during the festival? HAN five you count cider as one of your a day...”

ie: ALEX (KEYS) - “Laurent Garn always Techno’s not my thing but it’s ’s an great to watch someone who do undisputed master at what they not into playing on your doorstep. I’m go and violins either but I’d definitely at my see Paganini if he was gigging local.”

How was the gig? HANNA up for “Brilliant audience, everyone with our dancing and getting involved age raucous set. Seeing people from I think of 6 to 60 dancing and smiling. d quite this means we might have playe ying our well? Great to see people enjo suring new songs as well; always reas lyrics the up ng picki are le peop n whe s song the d hear g havin ever without before!” e ALEX - “Probably the best we’v ence.” played. Definitely the best audi y and HANNA - “Very sticky, and jump gorgeous” how On a scale to one to ten the set? drunk were you during 5, any HANNA - “It was about 4 or

14

which ALEX - “I drank some Buckfast, of grape might be based on some sort derivative.”

DANNY GIRL - “Ate a Babybel .” that looked a bit like an apple

cheese

What do you reg ret not ? bringing to the festival HANNA - “I regret nothing! g so ALEX - “Antihistamines. Livin t it’s wha t forge you sea the to close s in hay like being surrounded by field fever season.” stopping DANNY GIRL - “I regret not dirty at Middle Farm on the way for cider and stinking cheese” s?

Did you go on the fair ride If so, which one?

HANNA - “Went on the one that spun up and round just after eating a pizza, so felt a bit weird after that.”

a) the bank holiday was almost over and b) I had tonsillitis and a fever! BOOO!!” on my DANNY GIRL - “No chutney pakora. DISASTER!” : Summarise the festival size, no DANNY GIRL - “Very good gh to be officious hippies, messy enou you sick fun, but not enough to make amount right The … after th mon a for .” of mess d?

What’s next for the ban album HANNA - “Releasing our new on the with Prince Fatty that we are this cusp of finishing, more festivals ever summer and making our first music video!”

ALEX - “Our new album is so ed, tantalisingly close to being finish e going that’s hopefully out in July. We’r th to make our first video this mon festivals, too. Then more shows, more more songs. The usual.” in DANNY GIRL - “Album out gigs, July, increasingly exceptional ting a mind-blowing video and adop ip, not onsh pani com (for ey donk band t)!” spor tran

folk / pop

www.themeowmeows.com

Stage: Woodland Set time: 3pm.

Weather report: Nic

e and sunny!

How was the gig ? Gig was great thanks. Really lovely crowd, beautiful sunshine... What mo re could you ask for !

On a scale to on e to ten how drunk were you during the set?

One. Did anyone eat any fruit during the festival? Err rrm... yes! Bananas, always bananas!

What do you reg ret not bringing to the festival?

An amazing Winnebag o.

HOUSE OF HAT www.houseofhatsm usic.com

S

/houseofhats /houseofhats Did you go on th e fair rides?

If so, which one?

Unfortunately not... We had to pre tty much shoot off straight away to ano ther festival.

Worst experienc e at the festival: There wa sn’t one really.

Probably the worst moment was when we had to stop playin g.

Summarise the festival: Well, we were only there for a few hours, but it was full of good vibes!

What’s next for the band? More festivals, Gold Coast Oceanfest and Secret Garden Festiva l are definite highlights. We also hav e an album due out later this year.

Thanks to Lindsey Davis for the awesome fisheye images! www.lindseydavisbrighton.wordpress.com

Worst experience at the festival: HANNA - “Waking up on Monday and realising that

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Lindsey Davis Photography Brighton-based photographer, photographing music events around the city whenever I can. I currently photograph for the amazing Rotait at their monthly Off the Cuff Sessions. I have a huge passion for street art and break dancing, that’s where my photographical direction originally started.

Brighton is such an inspiring city and there are lots of awesomely cool people I have met since being here over the last two year.

I have been involved in: • Pretty Litter Magazine • Meadowlands Festival • Brighton Unsigned Magazine • Various Exhibitions If you need any fisheye images taking, give me a shout.

Lindsey Davis Tel: +447882063793 Lindseydavisbrighton.wordpress.com Lindseydavis86@googlemail.com