CHRISTIAN LE SURF + JOE PERFECT & THE CHAMPAGNE SOCIALISTS + ARCADIA RESIDENTIAL – GREEN DOOR STORE, BRIGHTON 12.6.24
On the eve of the 12th of June at Green Door Store, myself and a crust-punk friend were taken on a journey. Beginning with indie from opener Arcadia Residential, on to heavier alt-rock from main support Joe Perfect and the Champagne Socialists, and finishing with headliner Christian Le Surf’s experimental indie pop – it was certainly a night of a thousand subgenres!
The show was scheduled the night before the release of Christian Le Surf’s latest release ‘I Wish You Hell’, a catchy synthpop single now available to stream. I checked it out on release day and highly recommend it; it’s a summer banger and well worth a listen!
CHRISTIAN LE SURF
Christian Le Surf, the night’s headliner, describes himself as “a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist creating experimental pop worlds that dive into inclinations of post-rock, folk, and indie”.
I spoke to Christian after the show regarding his influences, and he cited Neutral Milk Hotel, Radiohead, and XTC among others – also making note of his early exposure to ‘80s synthpop like Gary Numan and early Depeche Mode. For me the Neutral Milk Hotel influence felt particularly strong, but something about the instrumentation and Le Surf’s vocal delivery (and probably the overall ‘80s feel of the entire night) had a hint of the Elton John about it.
It’s clear that the band had a dress-code going on, to match the quirky feel of the music. My favourite stylistic choice was one of the guitarists’ checkerboard tie / sunglasses combo, although drummer Daniel King’s ‘Kermit the Frog’ hat worked for me too.
The first three tracks of the set are played as one, beginning with ‘What Must I Do To Make Sure I Get to Heaven’. The track’s a great choice to open with: the initially sparse instrumentation builds up from Le Surf alone on keys and vocals, to introducing his backing band, to then building into a climax-before running, seamlessly, into the next tracks: ‘Ashamed Of Your Tiny House’ and ‘Silent Auction In The Sun’ from Le Surf’s 2021 album ‘Bontempi Cher Lloyd 1999’. For these two, Le Surf moves onto guitar, demonstrating his skill as a multi-instrumentalist. He works well with the band’s two other guitarists, Ben Douglas and Ewan Waters; while having three guitars in a band is often a daring choice (and the bane of any sound engineer), it never feels overwhelming here thanks to the songs’ strong and precise arrangement.
‘Irene’ is a standout for me, with lyrics that lament the titular character against bittersweet instrumentation. It’s a pretty song, where you can really feel Le Surf’s ‘80s influence with the synths and nostalgic refrain: “Your mother was a blowtorch, and your father was a drunk…”
Immediately following this comes my favourite track of the set: ‘Oh Costello’, where Le Surf switches from guitar onto ukulele (at which point I am honestly wondering what instrument he’s going to pull out next). It’s a very cute song with possibly one of the catchiest indie-pop refrains ever: “Oh Costello, how I love to hear your cello…”
From there we move on to ‘Love With A Fling’, which Le Surf notes is reworked from its original “lo-fi” state due to the backing band. This is another fun one, with a kind of ‘50s do-wop pop groove, and particularly ear-catching bassline courtesy of Billy Finneran. This track is the only one that made use of any notable drum sampling; unfortunately it comes out pretty discordantly boomy, which drummer Daniel seems to notice and smartly keeps the sample use to a minimum as a result.
Newly released single ‘I Wish You Hell’ is next up. It’s a cool full band interpretation of the track that can be found online, and I particularly enjoy Le Surf’s use of vocal effects. His voice shines here, especially in the chorus. It’s some really solid indiepop, and, once again, well worth checking out. Have you got Spotify? It’s on Spotify.
The rest of the set continues along the same very strong lines as its first half, with on memorable moment being when the entire band decides to T-pose; the drummer even getting up off his throne to do so. The guitarists head out into the crowd – Le Surf chats with his audience – guitar solos pop off: it has all of the hallmarks of a successful headline show that the band will be talking about all night after.
After “finishing” the set with ‘Moon.’, the crowd chants for one more song – and Le Surf provides it with a rerun of earlier track ‘Post-Innocent’ because, as he informs us, he had some tech issues with his vocal processing pedal during the first go at it. There are no such errors this time, and the set ends on a great high note.
Overall, I really enjoyed this set, and felt that the influences came together really nicely. The full band definitely works for Le Surf, and with more outings as a group they’re sure to only get better and better!
Also, for a third and final time, I urge you to go listen to ‘I Wish You Hell’ cus it’s a bop.
Christian Le Surf:
Christian Le Surf – lead vocals, electric guitar, keys, ukulele, sampler
Ben Douglas – electric guitar, backing vocals
Ewan Waters – electric guitar
Billy Finneran – bass, backing vocals
Daniel King – drums
Christian Le Surf setlist:
‘What Must I Do To Make Sure I Get To Heaven?’ (unreleased)
‘Ashamed Of Your Tiny House’ (from 2021 ‘Bontempi Cher Lloyd 1999’ album)
‘Silent Auction In The Sun’ (from 2021 ‘Bontempi Cher Lloyd 1999’ album)
‘Irene’ (from 2019 ‘Asleep On The Back Benches’ EP)
‘Oh Costello’ (from 2021 ‘Bontempi Cher Lloyd 1999’ album)
‘Love With A Fling’ (from 2021 ‘Bontempi Cher Lloyd 1999’ album)
‘I Wish You Hell’ (latest single)
‘Post-Innocent’ (unreleased)
‘Hopeless Building’ (from 2021 ‘The King’s Meadow’ EP)
‘Agriculture Twin’ (from 2021 ‘Bontempi Cher Lloyd 1999’ album)
‘Happy Static Endings’ (from 2019 ‘Asleep on the Back Benches’ EP)
‘Sex And Violence’ (2017 standalone single)
‘Moon.’ (unreleased)
‘Post-Innocent’ (unreleased)
linktr.ee/christianlesurfmusic
JOE PERFECT AND THE CHAMPAGNE SOCIALISTS
While I was familiar with main support Joe Perfect & The Champagne Socialists, I’d never managed to catch them live before. Fronted by the titular Joe Perfect himself, they describe themselves as “a sonic love-letter to all things subversive and strange, the musical synthesis of alt-rock vulgarity and post-punk neuroticism.” Considering the subject matter of their songs, I feel this is a pretty accurate description.
Much like headliner Christian Le Surf, they claim a diverse list of influences: from Patti Smith to Faith No More to Swans. Also like Le Surf, there’s a hint of the ‘80s about this band, although more-so the heavier end of the spectrum here rather than any synthpop. With the guitar work and Perfect’s grunge-influenced drawl, my mind goes first to Alice in Chains – although bassist Ernesto Diaz debated this with me heavily post-show.
The set begins with ‘The Nixon Kamasutra’, with frontman Joe Perfect bringing some wicked energy from the start. Although the crowd take a little while to catch on and join in (perhaps not anticipating the Champagne Socialists’ heavier sound), the band is warmly received and loudly applauded after every track.
‘Stargeezer’ follows, with some impressive vocals and stage presence from Joe: his persona is tortured and more than a little deranged, as he flings himself about Green Door Store’s teeny tiny stage. Next up is standout ‘Eating My Feelings’. This song really shows off the power of the rhythm section, with drummer Dan Haysom and bassist Ernesto forming an incredibly tight, precise unit.
My favourite of the set is ‘See Through’, which my friend Lyn aptly describes as “the most ‘80s groove (she’s) ever heard.” It’s slightly more downbeat than the other tracks for the most part, featuring really cool tonal changes and gorgeous guitar work from Laurent Lessafre.
Next track ‘Fawn’, which Joe informs us is a “new one”, is another killer offering, with a kinda surfy feel on the guitar. This is followed by ‘Transvestigation’, with the unhinged ‘I Will Kill Again!’ completing the set. Memorably, at some point during these last songs, Joe accidentally turns on Christian Le Surf’s vocal effects pedal, giving his vocals an, uh, autotuned modulated Drake (sorry) feel. Controversially, I think this sounded kind of cool? Maybe look into a vocals FX pedal, Joe Perfect.
The intensity of the Champagne Socialists is really enjoyable, and keeps me engaged all throughout – which is no mean feat considering I have the attention span of a pea. The instrumentation and vocals are stunning, the presence is wicked, the performance rules.
Joe Perfect & The Champagne Socialists:
Joe Perfect – lead vocals
Ernesto Diaz – bass
Dan Haysom – drums
Laurent Lessafre – guitar
Joe Perfect & The Champagne Socialists setlist:
‘The Nixon Kamasutra’ (from 2023 ‘The Nixon Kamasutra’ EP)
‘Stargeezer’ (unreleased)
‘Eating My Feelings’ (from 2023 ‘The Nixon Kamasutra’ EP)
‘See-Through’ (unreleased)
‘Fawn!’ (unreleased)
‘Transvestigation’ (from 2023 ‘The Nixon Kamasutra’ EP)
‘I Will Kill Again!’ (unreleased)
linktr.ee/thechampagnesocialists
ARCADIA RESIDENTIAL
Opening act Arcadia Residential is completely new to me, but well worth coming down early for. The 4-piece, who describe themselves as “indie soft-rock-pop disciples”, begin their set by luring the crowd in with promises of free beer onstage. While there is disappointingly absolutely zero free beer onstage, I get over it as they launch into ‘Round the Block’, which has a nostalgic 2000s indie sound to it, and a catchy hook. The crowd quickly warms to the band, with audience members dancing pretty much right off the bat.
Next up comes ‘Seatbelt Signs’, which is of a similar vein to the first song but with a more beachy, summery feel. Frontmen Oscar Oliver and Riley Oliver (relation?), both on vocals and guitar respectively, are chatty and provide great energy, clearly connecting with the audience. Jamie Morrison on bass, and Jamie Whalen on drums, provide a powerful and locked in backing.
While the musicianship and presence all throughout is great, I will say this doesn’t feel like a band who’ve 100% found their sound yet. There’s an interesting duality in this set, with indie songs such as the first two juxtaposed against some extremely cool shoegaze / kinda psych influenced offerings.
Following some fun stage banter, there’s a post-punk song called ‘Tandem’ towards the end of the set, the subject of which is the band’s loathing for TV licence men. The lyrics are fun, making reference to the villain of this story “throwing a brick through the window” and an “axe through the door” – and while the song itself goes down well with the crowd, for me it sticks out kinda strangely from the rest of the tracks.
Overall it’s a really engaging and enjoyable set. For me the darker, more psych-influenced tracks showed some serious promise, and I hope it’s a path they go further down. Cool stuff, and I hope to catch them again!
Arcadia Residential:
Oscar Oliver – vocals, electric guitar
Riley Oliver – vocals, electric guitar
Jamie Morrison – bass guitar
Jamie Whalen – drums
Arcadia Residential setlist:
‘Round The Block’
‘Seatbelt Signs’
‘About You’
‘Tandem’
“Untitled”
‘All The Stress’
linktr.ee/Arcadia.Residential.Band