LAWN CHAIR + MAGDA + LAURIE MCMAHON – THE PRINCE ALBERT, BRIGHTON 21.9.25
We were fortunate to have caught the debut Brighton performance by Cologne based Lawn Chair back on 16th May, when they performed a lively set at Charles Street Tap as part of this year’s Great Escape new music festival. This will live long in the memory of American vocalist Claudia Schlutius as this was the very first time that she had crowd surfed. Claudia takes care of vocals, keys, guitar and tambourine, and her German born chums do the rest. These being Eric Haupt (guitar), Max Meyer (guitar, backing vocals), Michael Haupt (bass, backing vocals) and Philip Schilz (drums).
For three years Lawn Chair have been an integral part of the German indie scene. The band have released two EP’s in collaboration with producers Olaf Opal (The Notwist) and Chris Coady (Beach House, Yeah Yeah Yeahs) and played countless gigs all over Germany. A first tour in England, rousing support shows for Sleaford Mods, Primal Scream, Getdown Services and gigs at festivals such as Reeperbahn Festival and Fusion were just the latest milestones of the ambitious band.
Their long-awaited debut album ‘You Want It! You Got It!’ dropped on 5th September and it explores life in late capitalism, caught in the web of smartphone addiction and toxic masculinity, the desire for success and the search for inner peace—always shadowed by the inescapable imprints of one’s origins.
Led by singer and Seattle native Claudia Schlutius, the band wraps all of this into a captivating blend of post-punk echoes, uncompromising guitar riffs, pop-driven basslines, and pulsating synthesizers—expertly crafted by producer Olaf Opal. Drawing inspiration from genre-defining bands like Devo, The B-52’s, Broadcast, and Beck, ‘You Want It! You Got It!’ is a compelling exploration of the contradictions of modern life. Find your copy HERE.
In support of their debut long-player, Lawn Chair are back in Brighton this evening courtesy of Love Thy Neighbour promoters and it’s all going down at The Prince Albert. We will come to the two support acts shortly, so let’s skip directly to Lawn Chair’s performance….
The quintet take to the stage at 9:14pm, which is a little later than planned due to the previous band sneaking in an extra number. Something has to give and Lawn Chair’s set is slightly affected as at least two or more proposed tracks are ditched. But we do receive an all-action 45 minute performance, which certainly enhanced the band as ones to watch! Thankfully the venue was almost at capacity for this performance, but a majority had yet to arrive as the night kicked off, which was a shame for the earlier acts. Claudia very much holds fort this evening, just as she had done four months ago, she’s forever courting the photographers at the front of the room and there’s much flashing of cameras as she poses, lays on the floor, clambers all over the speakers and joins us punters for some close up action.
Lawn Chair are a tight unit and clearly enjoy the music that they play, and why not I say. They freely admit that they are inspired by Devo and The B-52’s and this shines through this evening, but maybe not as much as our debut encounter. Back then they were a tad more quirky than they are this evening, and not all of their tracks are jaunty off-beat numbers, although opener ‘Fancy Car, Girlfriend And The Big House’ from the ‘You Want It! You Got It!’ album certainly is. On their setlists, it’s even listed as “Devo”. They then immediately launch into ‘Rhoenians Death’ from 2023’s ‘Eat The Beans And Wear The Jeans!’ EP and this one reminds me of the early Blondie material. Claudia makes her first of several forays into the crowd during this tune and is wonderfully animated.
A couple from the new LP follow in the form of bass guitar heavy ‘Who Is The Man?’ and the slower beats of their ‘The Next Big Thing!’ earworm. The latter witnessed Claudia going outside the performance room for a few seconds. No doubt having a catchup with Cal from DITZ who’s out there! There’s grunge elements in their next selection ‘Just Because We Can’, which is found on 2022’s ‘Lawn Chair’ EP, and this being the best thus far and has a great keys hook, but is then immediately bettered by the rockin’ head-bobbing beats of ‘Punkrock Band’ from 2023’s ‘Eat The Beans And Wear The Jeans!’ EP. There’s some funky drums and bass slapping combo action going on for ‘Men With Shifty Eyes’ from 2022’s self-titled EP, as well as some notable foot-pedal action as well. Claudia meanwhile stands and sings atop the merch stall at the rear of the room.
With all that energy going down, it was time for a brief hiatus with the arrival of the ballad of the night, ‘War Machine’, which Claudia informs us is about people around you getting old, especially her dad. For this she plays guitar solo for the first half of the number and then hands the instrument back and goes on keys again, which her four bandmates now come to the party. After this Claudia states “Enough of that, back to partying” and they were away with ‘Sunset Heartbreak’ from 2023’s ‘Eat The Beans And Wear The Jeans!’ EP, which vocally reminds me of early Blondie again, and this has a rather abrupt ending that maybe some weren’t expecting. The rockin’ ‘Waste Your Potential!’ from the new album is next and this segued straight into the Lambrini Girls-esque speedster that is ‘Come And Get It!’ which is also on the new cut. It’s their fastest tune of the night, it’s them at their most punky and I love it, thus it’s the best of the set. They sign off with ‘Counting On Love’ from 2022’s ‘Lawn Chair’ EP, which sees Claudia writhing around on the stage floor before bursting out of the room, whilst the quartet of lads busy themselves with foot-pedal action and the like. Claudia returns and somehow clambers atop a speaker at the rear of the stage and kneels down and delivers a few lines accordingly. It’s been a great performance and I’m rather hoping that Lawn Chair will return to Brighton in the not too distant future, as I really fancy another evening’s entertainment in their company.
Lawn Chair:
Claudia Schlutius – vocals, keys, guitar, tambourine
Eric Haupt – guitar
Max Meyer – guitar, backing vocals
Michael Haupt – bass, backing vocals
Philip Schilz – drums
Lawn Chair setlist:
‘Fancy Car, Girlfriend And The Big House’ (from 2025 ‘You Want It! You Got It!’ album)
‘Rhoenians Death’ (from 2023 ‘Eat The Beans And Wear The Jeans!’ EP)
‘Who Is The Man?’ (from 2025 ‘You Want It! You Got It!’ album)
‘The Next Big Thing!’ (from 2025 ‘You Want It! You Got It!’ album)
‘Just Because We Can’ (from 2022 ‘Lawn Chair’ EP)
‘Punkrock Band’ (from 2023 ‘Eat The Beans And Wear The Jeans!’ EP)
‘Men With Shifty Eyes’ (from 2022 ‘Lawn Chair’ EP)
‘Lover And A Fighter’ (a 2023 single)
‘War Machine’ (from 2025 ‘You Want It! You Got It!’ album)
‘Sunset Heartbreak’ (from 2023 ‘Eat The Beans And Wear The Jeans!’ EP)
‘Waste Your Potential!’ (from 2025 ‘You Want It! You Got It!’ album)
‘Come And Get It!’ (from 2025 ‘You Want It! You Got It!’ album)
‘Counting On Love’ (from 2022 ‘Lawn Chair’ EP)
Magda are the act on stage before Lawn Chair this evening and comprise Max Lambert (bass, vocals), Jack lymer (guitar), Dylan Watts (synth) and Szymon Zdunek (drums), who met in Brighton, but have now just moved up to London. This is my debut encounter with the quartet, although a couple of my chums in the crowd had actually witnessed them live in action last night, across the road at the Green Door Store.
Tonight we are rewarded eight compositions across their 35 minute set which ran from 8:18pm to 8:53pm. The noise levels greatly increased with these lads after the opening artist, and Magda’s material offers up off-kilter psych-tinged indie rock, but this does move away from this as the set progresses. Thus far they have released one EP, which is titled ‘Hole Punched In Cloud’, and we are served a trio of cuts from this tonight, commencing with ‘Every Time’. The EP title tune follows and this has an unusual murmured talky-style vocal delivery. The Korg keyboard came into its own during tune three, the yet to be released ‘Tron’, which surprisingly changed its beat part-way through. An as yet unnamed number follows and this seriously pricked up my ears on account of its intro which sounded rather like New Order’s ‘Procession’. Although the direction of this newbie changed somewhat when the remainder of the band started playing, and it becomes a different beast.
They follow this with a new one called ‘Crickets’ which has some urgency in its sound and is their most immediate tune thus far. The yet to be recorded ‘Foot Of Jericho’ was more of the same and some punters’ heads were noted to merrily bop away to this. ‘It’s Not That Bad’ was originally to be the final track, with its often shouted lyrics, but many folk were now in the Magda groove and the band were cojoiled into playing one more tune. They opted for ‘Sick With It’ from the ‘Hole Punched In Cloud’ EP. Although the set initially had a psych feel, this rapidly disappeared throughout the performance and they finished off as a rounded drumming led indie rock outfit. Max the singer is quite a character and the crowd warmed to him, and if you want to know where to go to buy the best rice in town, then he’s the man to ask – If you were present this evening, you will understand.
Check out their live session HERE.
Magda:
Jack lymer – guitar
Max Lambert – bass, vocals
Dylan Watts – synths
Szymon Zdunek – drums
Magda setlist:
‘Every Time’ (from 2024 ‘Hole Punched In Cloud’ EP)
‘Hole Punched In Cloud’ (from 2024 ‘Hole Punched In Cloud’ EP)
‘Tron’ (unreleased)
‘(Unnamed)’ (unreleased)
‘Crickets’ (unreleased)
‘Foot Of Jericho’ (unreleased)
‘It’s Not That Bad’ (unreleased)
‘Sick With It’ (from 2024 ‘Hole Punched In Cloud’ EP)
www.instagram.com/magda_rockband
Opening up proceedings this evening was Brighton based singer-songwriter Laurie McMahon who entertained a select few punters with seven compositions across a 25 minute set. As stated above, many folk had yet to arrive, and poor Laurie soldiered on to around a mere dozen souls. But this certainly didn’t put him off, and those present applauded in between tunes for encouragement and appreciation. According to his social media he put his “Focus on impactful lyrics and unique melodies” and that indeed is what we got from him and his acoustic guitar. I’m currently not aware of any releases from Laurie yet, and so all seven songs are, I believe, unreleased.
He opened with a tune called ‘Roses’ and then went on to perform ‘California Wine’. After which he performed a song called ‘Wondering’ and followed that with a brand new tune with the working title of ‘Slight Of Hand’. His next selection was called ‘Seven Dials’ as it was the area that his girlfriend was living at the time he penned it. Another was called ‘Ladies River’ which had a speedier beat. He signed off with ‘Nothing We Can Do’. It was a pleasing performance that featured crystal clear vocals of tunes that each tell their own story. It was a relaxing start to a Sunday evening session.
Laurie McMahon:
Laurie McMahon – vocals, guitar
Laurie McMahon setlist:
‘Roses’
‘California Wine’
‘Wondering’
‘Slight Of Hand’
‘Seven Dials’
‘Ladies River’
‘Nothing We Can Do’
www.instagram.com/lauriemcmahonmusic
