SWALLOWTAIL + DARCY + DELIRIUM (DELIRIUM) – THE PIPELINE, BRIGHTON 10.4.25
This evening we hung out with the next generation of Brighton based music artists, as well as the forward thinking WaterBear student collective that have put the evening together. It’s fair to say that my heart was filled with joy with the impressive way in which the new younger generation are going about keeping Brighton’s grassroots music scene buoyant and filling it with new blood.
Tonight’s event at The Pipeline was organised by QPS (Queens Park Sound) who are a student led promotion and events company based in Brighton, comprising of 4 core staff members (Milo Hawkes-Wright, Kian Welsh, Ethan Rogers and Thomas Tearle) and 2 freelance staff members (Jude Harrison and Alison Lawrence), who are all WaterBear students. Their project began as recently as this January and they have been working with around 30 artists and they have thus far put on 7 gigs at local grassroots venues – The Prince Albert, The Brunswick, The Pipeline, The Rossi Bar and WaterBear venue. There are as many gigs planned at other local venues including The Bees Mouth, Village and Green Door Store.
QPS offer a roster not unlike a record label. Bands on the roster are selected by QPS with no cut being taken from their music and yet QPS offer the artists free promotion for all of their gigs, and endeavour to gain other opportunities for them like news, radio play, other gigs and so on. Thus far QPS have 12 artists on this with over 50 applications. They function around a “music first approach”, employing only musicians and taking only a 20% cut from the live shows, which has helped create a cult fan base especially among students, which certainly explains the many young faces in tonight’s audience. QPS also have a paid photographer and a freelance journalist at every gig, which is beneficial with raising further awareness for the artists. Tonight their photographer was busying themself taking photos of the three bands on the bill this evening, as was our photographer Sara-Louise Bowrey. This evening’s freelance music journalist was Alison Lawrence and at the end of the night it was encouraging to be asked a few questions about tonight’s performances. The next couple of QPS events will feature Brainface, Fire Escape, Vivian Scarlett and Sick Days who will be appearing at The Hope & Ruin on Tuesday 15th April (Tickets HERE) and Francastre, LUVD and Cafe will be at The Rossi Bar on Wednesday 23rd April (Tickets HERE).

Back to this evening at The Pipeline, and on the bill we have headliners Swallowtail (who are the reason we are here this evening) and they are ably supported by Darcy and Delirium (Delirium). So let’s cut to the chase and start with Swallowtail.
OK I have to confess that prior to the band contacting us a short while ago, I wasn’t actually aware of their existence! With what often feels like there’s a band living on every street in Brighton & Hove, I guess that some are bound to slip through our net.
In their own words “Swallowtail are a Brighton based 4 piece, originally from Nottingham. Combining the eeriness of The Twilight Sad with the ambiance of Just Mustard they blend the fuzzy aspects of shoegaze with the intricate melodies of post-punk, creating an elegantly gritty soundscape”. The band are a quartet that comprises Katie Prescott, Caleb Ryde, Drew Vickerstaff and Fred Ford. I’m not sure how they came about their band name, but I reckon it’s more likely to be from the Wolf Alice tune of the same name, rather than the colourful graceful butterflies, but I could be wrong!
They not too long ago dropped their debut single, ‘Spring Guillotine’ which you can check out HERE and on 28th March the band released their second single, ‘Drift’ which is from their forthcoming debut EP, which is titled ‘Seesaw’. It features six tracks, these being ‘Laughter’, ‘To Trace’, ‘Seesaw’, ‘Drift’, ‘Swan Song’ and ‘Vega Burns’. You can pre-save Swallowtail’s ‘Seesaw’ EP on Spotify HERE.
Swallowtail kick off their 10 track 43 minute performance at 10pm with an intro which leads into an unreleased tune called ‘Dream It Off’, which notably features a violin bow being drawn across Caleb’s guitar strings, which is very effective. Katie is centre stage and all eyes are then drawn to her as the lyrics flow off the stage and into our hearts. Katie’s vocals are delivered in a clear slow manner with no hint of her Sheffield roots, but could easily be mistaken for being Celtic or even Scandinavian. The music truly hits us like a wall of noise, it’s Slowdive and then some, especially the drumming, and it’s a very impressive start.

Next up we have their ‘Drift’ single which starts with an explosion of sound akin to Jesus And Mary and Katie’s vocals are rather like New York darling Lana Del Rey. ‘To Trace’ from their forthcoming 2025 ‘Seesaw’ EP is their next selection and although initially it’s a slightly slower jangly guitar tune, but again with keen drumming from Drew, it then shows us exactly what a beast it is and explodes into action just like now sadly defunct Brighton outfit Morning Smoke used to do, Trust me, ‘To Trace’ is bloody epic! After the whoops and applause from the crowd has ceased, Katie informs us that the next one “is a new one” and this is ‘To Bathe’, which has a slower beat and overall the Cocteau Twins sprang to mind.
‘Laughter’ which will be appearing on their ‘Seesaw’ EP is up next and this commences with some rapid fire drumming prior to the other trio joining in. This has a Siouxsie & The Banshees feel to it and offers another wall of intense shoegaze noise and could even be described as Jefferson Airplane on speed. The unreleased ‘Armet’ is their following number and this initially affords a echoey guitar delivery, with a Patti Smith longing vocal style delivery, prior to that formidable wall of noise attacking or aural senses yet again. According to their setlists, it should have been their latest ‘Seesaw’ single next, but they had scrubbed it out, which is a real shame, but I’m assuming it’s because of time constraints. And so we move onto selection seven which is ‘Vega Burns’, from the forthcoming EP. This begins with an almost Adam & The Ants speedy drumbeat (despite only being a single drummer) and the guitar is played with the violin bow again, there are rumbles coming from the bass guitar and Katie delivers the vocals in a slow and long delivery, this is another corker of a tune!
Their debut ‘Spring Guillotine’ release is up next and affords some pleasant jangly guitar playing for this reverb drenched tune. I get that Cocteau Twins vibe again and get a feeling that Simon Raymonde seriously needs to see Swallowtail live in action and then invite them to join his Bella Union roster. Their penultimate song is ‘Running From A Swan Song In Red Kitten Heels’ which has a Slowdive feeling about it with its slower dreamy vocal delivery and reverb guitar as well as bass and drums interplay. This too explodes towards the end of the track. There’s more violin bow action on closing number, the unreleased ‘Thin’ which is a slow brooding number with talking style vocals which are delicately delivered, before they become more and more urgent as does the sound of the track and it’s one last explosion of sound and it’s terrific! If this set had been recorded for release as a live album, then I would honestly be at the head of the queue. My debut encounter with Swallowtail has to be honest totally blown away both myself and photographer Sara. Swallowtail are a must see band and I might have just discovered my new favourite local band!!!
Swallowtail will next be in action in Brighton on Thursday 1st May at the Dust venue in East Street along with Aqualine as part of the Pool Valley Records and Venerate Records monthly event. These events blend raw indie energy with deep breakbeat grooves, spotlighting the city’s freshest live bands and genre-blurring DJ sets. Like this evening’s event it is student-run and community-focused, with the aim to empower local talent, celebrate diversity, and keep Brighton’s music legacy alive – one unforgettable night at a time! Tickets can be found HERE.
Swallowtail:
Katie Prescott – vocals, guitar
Caleb Ryde – guitar
Drew Vickerstaff – drums
Fred Ford – bass
Swallowtail setlist:
‘Dream It Off’ (unreleased)
‘Drift’ (a 2025 single & from forthcoming 2025 ‘Seesaw’ EP)
‘To Trace’ (from forthcoming 2025 ‘Seesaw’ EP)
‘The Bathe’ (unreleased)
‘Laughter’ (from forthcoming 2025 ‘Seesaw’ EP)
‘Armet’ (unreleased)
‘Vega Burns’ (from forthcoming 2025 ‘Seesaw’ EP)
‘Spring Guillotine’ (a 2024 single)
‘Running From A Swan Song In Red Kitten Heels’ (from forthcoming 2025 ‘Seesaw’ EP)
‘Thin’ (unreleased)

Prior to Swallowtail taking to the stage we witnessed a 25 minute seven song set from 9:15pm by Darcy which isn’t a person but a noisy alternative rock band comprising Zen (vocals), Nathan (bass), Rob (drums) and Rhys (lead guitar).
It’s a quiet 45 second start to their set with Zen contemplatively singing and playing guitar and then his trio of chums join in and it becomes a loud and immediate affair. Throughout their performance there’s a togetherness with the band and they certainly don’t sound like you would expect a band called Darcy to sound like, there’s nothing vaguely Jane Austen or ‘Pride and Prejudice’ with these guys.
They are a tad more melodic than this evening’s openers, and at times are rather laid back with an American light rock vibe, which for instance can be found with their tune ‘Gold’, but they still manage to offload a fair amount of rock and grunge soundtracks when required. Zen informs us that it’s drummer Rob’s debut with the band this evening, and to be honest, I wouldn’t have guessed, as he has appeared to have slotted in perfectly. Darcy notably rocked on out for their closing two numbers ‘Freaks’ and ‘Carbon’.
Darcy:
Zen – vocals, guitar
Nathan – bass
Rob – drums
Rhys – lead guitar
Darcy setlist:
‘Detox’
‘See’
‘Run’
‘Gold’
‘Lungs’
‘Freaks’
‘Carbon’

Kicking off proceedings at 8:30pm this evening are Delirium (Delirium) who are Brighton based via way of Crewe and they show us what they have to offer during their 7 track 30 minute set. They are a young trio of lads which features QPS graphic designer and sound engineer Ethan Rogers on lead vocals and bass, along with Jared on guitar and vocals, and Leo on drums.
The first thing that no-one can fail to notice is that Ethan is wearing his hat so low that none of us can actually see his eyes. Is he hiding from us in order to get into the zone, I’m not sure. Delirium (Delirium) are a young trio who certainly know how to belt out their indie rock, grunge with a hint of punk numbers. They are loud, a tag ragged and learning their trade, but it’s clear they already have a following as there’s a number of their mates in the crowd.
There are some vocal cut ups in between some of the tracks which adds to the interest, although I couldn’t quite work out where these were coming from. Their tracks often have disjoined beats and at times it feels as though drummer Leo is playing at a faster rate than the other two, and on one occasion his enthusiasm showed, as one of the cymbals came off and fell to the floor.
Six of the seven compositions are self-penned with the exception of ‘Smoked’ which is a Teen Mortgage cover and for this Jared is mainly on lead vocals. The lighting technician is seriously on the case this evening and is extremely fond of rapidly turning the stage lights on and off in quick succession to heighten the senses. Thankfully I’m not epileptic. It’s been an interesting performance from these Brighton based students who clearly enjoyed offering up their art punk/noises and delivering huge psychedelic riffs with post punk insanity.
Delirium (Delirium):
Ethan – lead vocals, bass
Jared – guitar, vocals
Leo – drums
Delirium (Delirium) setlist:
‘Showman And The Forces Of Gumrot’
‘Shedocide’
‘Delirium (Delirium)’
‘QOTSA Hoodie’
‘Smoked’ (Teen Mortgage cover)
‘Fuzzbuddy’
‘Bad Behaviour’