EATER + EAST TOWN PIRATES + JO-JO & THE TEETH – THE BARN, SOUTHWICK COMMUNITY CENTRE 25.7.25 &
KARL PHILLIPS & THE REJECTS + THE DEL STRANGEFISH INEXPERIENCE + STIIILL – THE BARN, SOUTHWICK COMMUNITY CENTRE 26.7.25
This weekend marks the third year for the ‘Alive At The Barn’ festival, and it promises to be a good one. An eclectic mix of music, along with a nice selection of independently brewed ales and ciders were on offer, and that certainly ticked some important boxes. The Southwick Barn at the Southwick Community Centre is the ideal setting for events like this, and I always enjoy an excuse to visit. To top things off, the weather was decent, giving us plenty of time to enjoy the outside space in the intervals. So without further ado, let’s get into the action, first with Sonny Tyler for Friday night’s coverage, and then over to Nick Linazasoro for Saturday night’s coverage.
You don’t often get to see original punk bands like Eater, so I got myself wristbanded up, and prepared myself for a Friday night of music and beer. Eater were originally formed in 1976 by four high school friends from Finchley in North London, and can definitely lay claim to bearing witness to the unruly birth of Punk rock. Armed with an ability to vent their attitude through music, they soon became regulars at The Roxy, and were deemed early pioneers of the UK’s Punk scene. They were also one of the youngest bands on the circuit, as they were aged 14-17 years old at the time. Fronted by singer Andy Blade, they went on to record a handful of influential singles and a lone album. The initial punk explosion was over in the blink of an eye, and Eater split up in late ’78. Of course we all know that punk never went away, and the band decided to properly reform in 2022.
Which brings us to tonight. A rare chance to see Eater in Southwick, and plenty of eager people had turned up to witness the occasion. Atilla The Stockbroker was the compere for the weekend, and as soon he introduced tonight’s headliners, it was soon apparent that Andy Blade’s new-look Eater looked rather familiar. That’s because they were made up of members of Jo-Jo & The Teeth who opened up for tonight (more on them later). The band swiftly kicked into a song called ‘Anne’, followed by ‘Fifteen’ which was watched keenly by the crowd assembled. Andy’s vocals were bolstered nicely by Jo-Jo’s and the band were tight. There was a bit of sarcastic banter going on courtesy of Mr Blade, which didn’t warm the crowd to them particularly early on, but normal service was soon resumed in the form of a cover of Velvet Underground’s ‘Waiting For The Man’. Another cover was forthcoming (‘Chinese Rocks’) followed shortly afterwards by the Eater classic, ‘Point Of View’. The crowd had their dancing shoes on at this point, which continued as the band launched into The Clash’s ‘White Riot’. Another Eater tune, ‘Public Toys‘ was given an airing and Marc Bolan”s ‘Jeepster’ followed next. Funnily enough, it was a Marc Bolan song that gave the band inspiration for their name all those years ago. ‘Outside View’ was up next followed by ‘Beat On The Brat’, by the Ramones. All of this entertaining set was wrapped up nicely with a rendition of ‘No Brains’ which got plenty of hand claps from the audience. There were maybe too many covers in the set, but It sure was nice to see Eater at last. Watch out for a new album by them in 2025.
Eater:
Andy Blade – vocals
Jo Jo Donoghue – backing vocals
Rylan Woods – guitar
Max Battista – bass
Andy Barker – drums
Eater setlist:
‘Anne’
‘Fifteen’
‘Space Dreaming’
‘Waiting For The Man’
‘Chinese Rocks’
‘Your Generation’
‘Lock It Up’
‘I Don’t Need It’
‘You’
‘Point Of View’
‘White Riot’
‘Public Toys’
‘Jeepster’
‘Room For One (Slow)’
‘Queen Bitch’
‘Breakdown’
‘My Business’
‘Outside View’
‘Beat On The Brat’
‘No Brains’
www.instagram.com/andy.blade_aka_eater
Main support tonight were East Town Pirates from Ipswich. They were regulars at the annual ‘Glastonwick’ fest at Coombes Farm (Lancing) and this was to be their first (and hopefully not their last) performance at The Barn. They have been performing their pirate rock ‘n’ roll to us landlubbers for many a year now, and we were looking forward to what tonight would bring. Their songs are full of East Anglian tales that are steeped in folklore, covering subjects such as drinking, smuggling, piracy and a bit of debauchery for good measure. With three albums under their belts (‘Ship O’ Fools’ being the latest) they have been going from strength to strength, and tonight promised to be a good one.
Vocalist Rikki soon got the crowd going as the band launched straight into Pirates favourite, ‘Ship O’ Fools’. We prepared to get our timbers well and truly shivered as they followed this up with a personal favourite, ‘Voodoo Pirate Rock ‘n” Roll’.
This set also featured a relatively new E.T.P song, in the form of ‘Old Grog’ and it’s a definite classic in the making, boasting echoes of Nick Cave in its storytelling style.
This band had plenty of people dancing to them, especially when they played their piratey love song ‘Throw Your Arms Around Me Darlin”. Mel from Combat Shock was surprise special guest tonight, who sang with the band during ‘Betrayal’, whilst wearing a vicar’s dog collar. During ‘The Revenge Of Emmy Tot’, Rikki produced a severed head, which I thought was a bit much for a Friday night. A party was well and truly being had at this point in the evening, and Mr Rumoldew even invited a member of the audience onto the stage for a spot of air guitar playing (Hello Mason!). They ended their repertoire with ‘Ship Ahoy,’ but before we could see them off, they raised their cutlasses for one last time. Attila The Stockbroker took to the stage to whip up the crowd, and before we knew it, East Town Pirates took to the plank again, and dished out an old classic called appropriately ‘East Town Pirates’. Much singing along happened, and we all went back to the bar with grins on our faces. Long may their rowdy pirate ship sail our South Coast seas.
East Town Pirates:
Rikki Rumoldew – vocals
Kutthroat Kev – guitar, backing vocals
Drew Blood – guitar, backing vocals
Barnacle Barnie – bass
Rumrunnin’ Ryan – drums
East Town Pirates setlist:
‘Libertalia’
‘John Dobb’s Bones’
‘Glory Days’
‘Voodoo Pirate Rock ‘n’ Roll’
‘Old Grog’
‘Shit Or Bust’
‘Ship Of Fools’
‘Betrayal’
‘Throw Your Arms Around Me Darlin’’
‘One For M’lady’
‘Yoxford Boy’
‘The Revenge Of Emmy Trot’
‘Ship Ahoy’
(encore)
‘East Town Pirates’
Jo-Jo & The Teeth were the opening band this evening. They hail from London, and have been strutting their stuff since 2020. This interesting band self describe themselves as possessing “ferocious melodies, dirty riffs, slick licks, big ass drums and groovy rhythms to stomp your boots to”. I promptly checked out their videos on YouTube (you should too) and was impressed with what I saw. Their description was pretty accurate and dare I say it, some of it had an almost gothic Amy Winehouse vibe. I could be wrong though, as this band is so much more than that. They have their bluesy elements but glam rock is firmly rooted in their DNA.
The first song was called ‘Baby’ and it was soon evident that this band were a class act. Jo-Jo’s voice was amazing and the rest of the band were giving it their all. ‘Hellhound’ is a particular favourite of mine and they did it justice tonight, I am happy to say. Sebastian Leiton was treating the crowd to some serious guitar shapes, and truly rocked out in a Brian May fashion. Rylan Woods looked glam-tastic too, sporting indoor shades as he rocked his golden, glittery axe. Jo-Jo was getting to grips with her cordless microphone and said that she felt a bit like Beyonce. Midway through their set, she was also kept on her toes by having to dodge an over zealous, overhead dry ice cannon. When it went off, it was louder than the music itself, and could probably take your head off. All of this, while balancing on impossibly tall, stack heeled boots (Jo-Jo, not me). ‘Whisky Dreams’ got the place moving and I was chuffed to see this polished band finish with the Slade classic, ‘Gudbye T’Jane’. The new wave of glam had hit Southwick this evening, and I’m keen to see Jo-Jo & The Teeth strut their stuff again soon.
Jo-Jo & The Teeth:
Jo Jo Donoghue – vocals
Rylan Woods – guitar
Sebastian Leiton – lead guitar
Max Battista – bass
Andy Barker – drums
Jo-Jo & The Teeth setlist:
‘Baby’
‘No More Good News’
‘Hellhound’
‘We’re Just Animals’
‘Moonchild’
‘Lungs’
‘Knight Of Swords’
‘Show Me Your Teeth’
‘Whisky Dreams’
‘Don’t Get Too Heavy’‘A Hungry Love’
‘Gudbye T’Jane’
‘Alive At The Barn’ was back in action on Saturday afternoon as well as Saturday evening. The afternoon session from 12 noon to 5pm featured Phil Odgers from The Men They Couldn’t Hang, Attila The Stockbroker who was presenting an ‘Early Music Show’, Steve White & The Protest Family, and Scottish songwriter Calum Baird. Sadly we were unable to attend this, but we did rock on up for the evening’s proceedings from 6pm to the proposed 11pm. The evening session featured Karl Phillips and The Rejects along with Peter & The Test Tube Babies founder member, namely Del Strangefish and his Inexperience band who’s debut album is a belter; and opening up proceedings were gothic whirlwind trio ST///LL who were previously known as The Last Cry.
Unlike Sonny Tyler who reviewed Friday’s events, this is my (Nick Linazasoro) first time here and I absolutely love what the folk have done here. The site has obviously had historical importance for the area for in excess of 400 years in one way or another and since the second world war has been looked after by local folk. In fact, on entry this evening I’m greeted by cheery volunteers who are most helpful and immediately make me relaxed. I felt even further relaxed after purchasing a £5 pint of IPA, yes £5 and it was fab, as I sat in the clean garden area and exchanged banter with fellow music lovers. Maybe I shouldn’t have eaten before coming out as the cafe’s food really looked superb quality. It’s no wonder that an annual beer festival is held here, as well as other events such as theatre productions, wedding receptions and the like. The Barn itself is part of the Southwick Community Centre complex and it’s an expansive room with a high vaulted ceiling. The lighting on stage is honestly better than a few Brighton concert venues that I could name, and the sound quality this evening is terrific. They have even brought in a trio of dry ice machines to the rear of the stage. Everywhere is clean, including the toilets, unlike one or two Brighton venues who really now need to update their facilities!
I’m not actually sure that I agreed with the running order for this evening’s event, as for me it was very much a case of them having been in reverse order, which is an unusual occurrence, and so we begin with my personal favourite band of the night, who were the openers…
As mentioned above ST///LL originally flew under the banner of The Last Cry and we reviewed them only once and this was when they supported Toyah, who incidentally I saw live on Brighton Beach just three days ago with The Human League and Marc Almond (Review HERE). Our encounter with The Last Cry took place on 2nd November 2019 at Chalk (Review HERE). However, this already is my third live encounter with ST///LL and I’m really hoping for many more. Their debut self-titled album, which dropped late 2023, certainly delivers in bucket-loads and is a truly solid body of work – find it HERE.
This evening is the longest ST///LL set that I’ve had the pleasure of seeing, and they gave us 11 tracks across a 55 minute performance that ran from 6:32pm to 7:27pm. They are all clad in black and opened with ‘Empty Room’, which of course it wasn’t! There was a false start on ‘Darkened Eyes’, which is the first mistake I’ve seen them make, but boy did they make up for it. Frontman Andrew seems really up for it this evening and his enthusiasm flows off the stage and into the punter’s bodies. I glance around and Attila The Stockbroker is behind me and he nods approvingly at me, as in to indicate his enjoyment in their set. The moving ‘End Of Days’ seems to be a set highlight each time, but not just with myself, as Andrew informs us it’s about dementia, and his lyrics are delivered with angst and true inner feeling. Musically we are talking in the realms of Joy Division, The Sisters Of Mercy and The Cure, the latter of which are clearly of interest to ST///LL as their next concert is a tribute set to Robert Smith’s outfit, along with a couple of other bands – Details HERE.
‘Scars’ is next and reminds me of ‘Transmission’ by Joy Division as Andrew delivers through gritted teeth. Next came ‘Misunderstood’, which has never sounded so great to me, the drumming backing is of note here. There’s a longish intro on ‘Coming Home’ before those drums kick back in, and when the recorded synth backing is used, it reminds me of Gary Numan’s screaming keys sound, which really can’t be bettered. There’s a handful of tunes to round off with ‘She Walks In Shadows’ being the pick of the bunch and my favourite tune from the band. Simply putting it ST///LL are the best relatively new band coming out of West Sussex…end of!
ST///LL:
Andrew Birch – vocals
Chris Carey – bass guitars
Darren Davies – guitar
ST///LL setlist:
‘Empty Room’
‘Darkened Eyes’
‘End Of Days’
‘Scars’
‘Misunderstood’
‘Coming Home’
‘Try’
‘Last Ride’
‘Shout Out’
‘She Walks In Shadows’
‘In The Static’
The Del Strangefish Inexperience
Back on 5th April last year, I had the pleasure of being invited to attend The Del Strangefish Inexperience ‘Clocking Out’ debut album launch gig at the iconic Hotel Pelirocco, which is located near the i360. That night, I concluded my account by stating “I must say that I was pleasantly surprised just how good this new material is, with some better than others, but in the main, I reckon it will be well worth the purchase price!”. I still stick to this today, as the album, which eventually dropped on 3rd October, isn’t just a quartet of blokes messing around for the hell of it, but it’s a quality piece of work, which obviously does also benefit from Del’s jovial manner. You can read the review of that night HERE and listen to (or purchase if you like) the album HERE.
Del likes to share his witty banter, like he does as the Rebellion Radio DJ, and this evening is no different. Having begun his career by downing Test Tubes bassist Chris “Trapper” Marchant, he certainly doesn’t let up tonight and any time bassist Dom Smith speaks, he is joyfully castigated (poor sod!), but then anything is fair game, including taking the mickey on himself, and so the wit (and the music) commenced at 7:53pm and ran for the next 43 minutes until 8:36pm. Del also introduces drummer Dave as coming “All the way from Ford Open Prison”. Thankfully, as Del penned a great number of Test Tube anthems, he can bring them into play this evening and the set was top and tailed by them. We are served 1987’s ‘Spirit Of Keith Moon’ as opener, and concluded by saying “Right we are going to play some old punk classics to annoy the old people”, then they launched into ‘Banned From The Pubs’, which is arguably the most famous Test Tubes number, after which the lads played ‘Blown Out Again’, followed by the classic ‘Elvis Is Dead’ which was interspersed on three occasions by Elvis Presley’s ‘The Wonder Of You’. Mid-set they also played Test Tubes 2017’s ‘Silicone Beer Gut’, which always brings a smile, and two tunes before that we had ‘No Invitation’ from 1983’s ‘The Mating Sounds Of South American Frogs’ album.
Some of the The Del Strangefish Inexperience material also obviously got an airing with ‘Weak’, ‘Run Del Run’ (about him not wanting to tour any more) and ‘Nerves’, which Del introduces “This is another positive song it’s called ‘You Get On My Nerves’”, which features some notable guitar work from Jim. Comically, near the beginning of the set drummer Dave had to come to the front to ask Del the setlist, as you may guess, these aren’t the most polished band you will ever see, but they are entertaining and always worth a punt, if toned down punk is your bag. The final word of the set was “Seagulls!” which headed Attila’s way! The Del Strangefish Inexperience, always bringing a smile with emphasis on the word “inexperience”.
The Del Strangefish Inexperience:
Del Strangefish – lead vocals, guitar
Jim Phelan – guitar, backing vocals
Dom Smith – bass
‘Caveman’ Dave O’Brien – drums, backing vocals
Del Strangefish setlist:
‘Spirit Of Keith Moon’
‘Weak’
‘No Invitation’
‘Run Del Run’
‘Silicone Beer Gut’
‘Nerves’
‘Banned From The Pubs’
‘Blown Out Again’
‘Elvis Is Dead’ / ‘The Wonder Of You’
www.instagram.com/del_strangefish
When I first saw the flyer for this event, this evening’s headlining act were a real mystery to me as I had honestly never heard of them, these being Karl Phillips & The Rejects, so I guessed I missed the one time that one of their tracks got played three-quarters of the way through on Radio 1 then! Mind you our team might be catching them live again in the not too distant future when they play Victorious Festival on Southsea seafront on Sunday 24th August, but there’s a whole host of bands performing, so let’s see what happens. Like the other two acts on the bill, Karl Phillips & The Rejects can also be found on Bandcamp where it shows that the band are from Northampton, so that’s a great effort to drive all this way in order to perform for us. They released their debut self-titled long player in 2018 and have only followed that with a trio of singles since then, so not exactly prolific – Find their tunes HERE.
Tonight we are in Karl and his chums company for 51 minutes from 9:09pm until 10pm on the dot. The evening was billed as an 11pm finish, but thankfully it was an hour earlier, which allowed me to get away and sort out the photos from this evening. Unfortunately, they didn’t appear to have any setlists and requests for information and names has as yet not been forthcoming, which doesn’t really assist this article. Tonight they are a quintet composed of Karl on vocals, as well as two guitarists, a bassist and a drummer. We are informed during the set that they are also meant to have a horn section but they let them down, and that they also operate with a DJ on stage from time-to-time. So it feels as though we only have the backbone of the band on offer this evening. Their sound is a mix of ska, rap and indie rock and in general they went down rather well with the punters that were present and received an increasingly hearty applause at the culmination of each track. They played ‘Strongbow’ from the album earlier in the set and a new tune called ‘Wet Willy’ I believe. I think they played ‘Radio’ from the album as well, which led to the information about being played on Radio 1 once. They signed off with ‘Bigger Man’ which is also found on the album, and this has a rap delivery with a repeated chorus plus a heavy bass laden backing. In all honesty, I can’t like every act that I ever see, and Karl Phillips & The Rejects really didn’t personally float my boat I’m afraid.
And that’s it! ‘Alive At The Barn’ Year Three has drawn to a close! Keep the same date free for next year as Southwick will be calling again!
