THE HAERMORRHOIDS + GRIPPER LEE + THE GLITTERBOMBS – THE PRINCE ALBERT, BRIGHTON 22.9.25
I have been seriously blessed by having been able to have witnessed so many fabulous punk bands performing live across the past 47 continuous years of gigging. Some of these events have been rather special, none more so than when attending a Ramones concert. These were always a big deal and “da brudders” delivered on every single occasion. It’s no wonder I saw them four nights on the trot back in 1986 (4th to 7th May) as part of my many encounters with the band! They were simply the best American punk band of all time for yours truly. They are now seriously missed, with almost all of the members having already passed away. There’s no real true opportunities in order to get that hit again, unless you take into consideration Marky Ramone’s Blitzkrieg, who will be performing a 7-date UK & Ireland tour next January. In the meantime however, I very recently stumbled across an act that were labelled as “Ramonescore”. I simply had to find out more……
Ladies and gentlemen I give you The Haermorrhoids, who are a punk rock quartet coming at us from Hamburg in Germany, or as they put it “a Pop Punk Powerhouse Band”. The outfit were founded back in 2014 and they have had the same current lineup since 2019, this being Yannick (drums, vocals), Greg (rhythm guitar, vocals), Lennart (lead guitar) and Martin (bass). The Haermorrhoids are charged with keeping the Ramones trademark sound very much alive via their own honest, humorous, charming and fast self-penned English language compositions. In all honesty I’m a tad annoyed that I’ve only just discovered them, but I don’t think that they have played the UK before, and have certainly not performed live in Brighton! Until tonight that is, as Shake Some Acton promoters managed to secure the band’s services for a debut outing at The Prince Albert. There was no way I was going to miss this one!
The Haermorrhoids released a 4-trade demo EP back in 2015 and finally got around to releasing their debut album in 2018, this being the 20-tracked ‘Apparatus Of The Ultimate Power’. Post-covid and the guys got around to releasing their second long-player, ‘At The Earth’s Core’ in 2023. This album contained 15 new tunes. Their latest release is an EP going by the title of ‘Treatment’. Thankfully all of these were on sale at The Albert this evening and my wallet is £40 lighter on account of buying both the albums. I asked the guy on the merch table about the 7” and he wrongly told me that it has just two tracks, so I didn’t bother. This was really annoying as after the concert I found out that it contained 4-tracks and so I would have snapped up a copy!
So to this evening’s 42 minute 21-track performance, which equates to two minutes per song. We would have had 23 tracks, but the guys omitted the final two numbers, these being ‘1984’, and ‘Mind Of A Douchebag’, with both tunes being located on their ‘Apparatus Of The Ultimate Power’ album. But I guess with curfew fast approaching and merch to be shifted, needs must!
The quartet take to the stage at 9:58pm and we are in their company until 10:40pm. And exactly like the Ramones sets of old, the band whizz through tracks in a rapid fire of a few at a time. This being 4 in a row, then 5, and another 5, followed by 4 and finally a 3, with the gaps being well-earned rests! Every song is introduced by drummer Yannick, and he kicks off with “Lost In Space 1-2-3-4” and the guys let rip on ‘Lost In Space’, which is the first of no less than 10 tracks from their debut 2018 ‘Apparatus Of The Ultimate Power’ album. This means they play half of the record’s songs for us and I can’t wait to hear the other 10, as I haven’t as yet had a chance to play it! Every single one of their songs sounds like a Ramones number, which is pure joy for yours truly!
Throughout the performance, the vocals are regularly delivered by both Yannick and guitarist Greg, which adds to the depth of sound. One tune down and the guys segue straight into the even faster title track of ‘At The Earth’s Core’, which they segue right into 2018’s breakneck ‘Aleister Crowley’ tune, and first segment is concluded with 2023’s ‘Brown Sprinkles’. Four down, seventeen to go and the punters are lapping it up!
The second segment featured a handful of fast and breakneck tunes, these being ‘Captain Isolation’ from ‘At The Earth’s Core’, ‘Maggots From The Underpants’, ‘Apparatus Of The Ultimate Power’ and ‘SK8’ all from ‘Apparatus Of The Ultimate Power’, and then ‘Drain My Brain’ from ‘At The Earth’s Core’.
The third slab of loveliness began with some notably twangy guitar action on ‘CIA’ which is located on their 2024 ‘Haermorrhoids Vs Proton Packs’ split single. Then they again hit breakneck speed for the unreleased ‘Power Of The Sword’, after which they slowed the pace with the Ramones ‘We’re A Happy Family’-eque sounding ‘Dr Frankenstein’s Kung Fu Monsters’. After which we did actually get the only cover of the set, and guess what? Yep! It’s a Ramones tune! This being a faithful rendition of ‘Havana Affair’ which the band recorded on their 2018 ‘Apparatus Of The Ultimate Power’ album. I was so overjoyed with this that the hairs on my arms and on the back of my neck stood erect in wonderful tinglyness! The slower twangy guitarred ‘Force Feeder’ from ‘At The Earth’s Core’ signalled the climax of block three.
Yannick then informs us that the next tune was “a pop song that he wrote when he was sad”, this being the only track played from their latest 4-track ‘Treatment’ EP, this was ‘Cyberbrain’. Next up was the faster ‘Confused Lame-O’ from 2023 album, followed by their second as yet to be recorded number, which is called ‘Degenerator’ and it’s not as fast as ‘Confused Lame-O’. Block four concludes with the faster ‘DNA’ from ‘Apparatus Of The Ultimate Power’.
Yannick then instructed us that the next tracks are the final ones and they rounded off with a trio of cuts from ‘Apparatus Of The Ultimate Power’ album, these being ‘Power Abusing Dickhead’, ‘Overdose’ and ‘Nuclear Power X-Ray Man’. Every single track was a belter! And I mean every tune! Whilst watching the quartet I became aware that this performance is very likely going to be THE best punk rock set I will witness during 2025, and I’ve already seen a fair share of them! It goes without saying that The Haermorrhoids MUST be booked to play the UK’s largest punk rock festival for next year, this being the annual Rebellion festival that takes place in Blackpool. Suffice to say I will be dropping some words in a few ears off of the back of this awesome set! And whilst they are back in the UK next August, then they can come and perform again in Brighton! As the headline says “Miss the Ramones? Then you’ll love The Haermorrhoids!”. Nuff said!
Check out the band’s releases on their Bandcamp page HERE.
The Haermorrhoids:
Yannick – drums, vocals
Greg – rhythm guitar, vocals
Lennart – lead guitar
Martin – bass
The Haermorrhoids setlist:
‘Lost In Space’ (from 2018 ‘Apparatus Of The Ultimate Power’ album)
‘At The Earth’s Core’ (from 2023 ‘At The Earth’s Core’ album)
‘Aleister Crowley’ (from 2018 ‘Apparatus Of The Ultimate Power’ album)
‘Brown Sprinkles’ (from 2023 ‘At The Earth’s Core’ album)
‘Captain Isolation’ (from 2023 ‘At The Earth’s Core’ album)
‘Maggots From The Underpants’ (from 2018 ‘Apparatus Of The Ultimate Power’ album)
‘Apparatus Of The Ultimate Power’ (from 2018 ‘Apparatus Of The Ultimate Power’ album)
‘SK8’ (from 2018 ‘Apparatus Of The Ultimate Power’ album)
‘Drain My Brain’ (from 2023 ‘At The Earth’s Core’ album)
‘CIA’ (from 2024 ‘Haermorrhoids Vs Proton Packs’ split single)
‘Power Of The Sword’ (unreleased)
‘Dr Frankenstein’s Kung Fu Monsters’ (from 2023 ‘At The Earth’s Core’ album)
‘Havana Affair’ (Ramones cover) (from 2018 ‘Apparatus Of The Ultimate Power’ album)
‘Force Feeder’ (from 2023 ‘At The Earth’s Core’ album)
‘Cyberbrain’ (from 2025 ‘Treatment’ EP)
‘Confused Lame-O’ (from 2023 ‘At The Earth’s Core’ album)
‘Degenerator’ (unreleased)
‘DNA’ (from 2018 ‘Apparatus Of The Ultimate Power’ album)
‘Power Abusing Dickhead’ (from 2018 ‘Apparatus Of The Ultimate Power’ album)
‘Overdose’ (from 2018 ‘Apparatus Of The Ultimate Power’ album)
‘Nuclear Power X-Ray Man’ (from 2018 ‘Apparatus Of The Ultimate Power’ album)
Main support this evening came from East Sussex (Hastings and Bexhill-on-Sea area) based punky oddballs Gripper Lee who offer up “darkly witty lyrics, earworm hooks, blistering guitar, and expressive drumming”. They rose out of the ashes of previous band Gripper Lee 3 in 2022, and were initially a 2-piece featuring Richie Nice (vocals, bass) and Martyn Lee (drums, vocals), until November 2024, when ex UK Decay band member Justin Saban came on board on guitar. They have thus far released one album, ‘So What Do We Know?’, which dropped last August, as well as a couple of singles, and most recently an EP titled ‘Look Away Now’ which came out back in June, and encouragingly the trio are currently finishing writing a second album for release next year.
This evening the lads are clearly already moving forward with their live performance as the first 7 tracks are as yet to be released. Two others are culled from the new EP and we are rewarded with a decent cover version to conclude as we have apparently been a great audience.
The Gripper Lee image is rather striking, with all of the members dressed in black and sporting a black bowler hat and/or full beard. Richie is very much the frontman of the outfit, and is clearly a very knowledgeable fellow, with a pleasing demeanour. Suffice to say the punters warm to him and his chums throughout their 10 tune 40 minute set, from 8:58pm to 9:38pm.
The trio commence with their gritty old school punk ditty ‘Don’t Really Care’ with its catchy and repeated “Don’t really care about you” chorus, which is easy to sing along to. Although Richie is on lead vocals, drummer Martyn is also on backing vocals throughout the performance. Not to be left out, new boy Justin gives us an early indication of his guitar prowess on tune two, ‘Something We Can Do’, which also features a repeated chorus, this too is a traditional punk number. Selection three is ‘Signify Nothing’ and this, for me, raises the bar somewhat, with Richie’s vocals adopting an early Hugh Cornwell (Stranglers) snarl, as well as offering up some wonderful bass and guitar riffage. Overall, this is heading nicely towards Sex Pistols territory. Richie then indicates that the next tune (‘Organise’) is aimed at Jeremy Corbin and co by saying “Get yourselves organised”. This tune has crossed over the punk border into hard rock territory, and is accordingly littered with copious amounts of guitar action from Justin.
Richie now informs us that they are going to make a radical move for the next track, ‘The Long Road’, as it’s a slow song, which nonetheless didn’t lack any intensity and it reminded me in small parts of The Velvet Underground. They begin the second half of the set with ‘High Tension High Pressure’ which witnesses the tempo raised back up, Richie’s vocal style this time around reminds me of Buzzcocks Steve Diggle, whereas the actual music had an almost Siouxsie & The Banshees feel, which then delved back into rock guitar territory care of Justin’s sliding fingers action. After this, Richie informs us that they are going to play a new tune for us, and indeed it’s a new tune for the band as well, he quips. This is called ‘The Death Of A Dream’ and he adds that “this one is in 6/8, so we can waltz to it instead of pogo”. There’s some screechy guitar and bass combinations going in here and at this juncture it too reminds me of Siouxsie & The Banshees at times.
That’s all of the unreleased material out of the way, and so this nicely leads Richie into plugging their CD EP which is available for purchase and they dive into its title track ‘Look Away Now’, which is solidly back in punk territory. It’s an enjoyable tune with a repeated chorus. Their penultimate selection comes from the same 2025 EP, and this is ‘Pale Blue Dot’, which is obviously about planet Earth. This is a great track and Richie seriously gets to grip with the vocals and offloads them in a Jello Biafra (Dead Kennedys) venom style. Its theme is a listed tirade of everything that is wrong with the world. In a nutshell, it’s a loud tune and the punters loved it, and so did I. The trio have arrived at their final number and as we have been such a great audience we are rewarded with a true to life cover of the Stranglers ‘Straighten Out’ classic. The lads more than do this justification and it’s a fabulous way to sign off.
You can next catch Gripper Lee live in Brighton on Sunday 9th November for the ‘City Baby Attacked by Rats With Wings Festival’, which is being held at The Pipeline – Further details and tickets HERE.
Check out the band’s releases on their Bandcamp page HERE.
Gripper Lee:
Richie Nice – vocals, bass
Martyn Lee – drums, vocals
Justin Saban – guitar
Gripper Lee setlist:
‘Don’t Really Care’ (unreleased)
‘Something We Can Do’ (unreleased)
‘Signify Nothing’ (unreleased)
‘Organise’ (unreleased)
‘The Long Road’ (unreleased)
‘High Tension High Pressure’ (unreleased)
‘The Death Of A Dream’ (unreleased)
‘Look Away Now’ (from 2025 ‘Look Away Now’ EP)
‘Pale Blue Dot’ (from 2025 ‘Look Away Now’ EP)
‘Straighten Out’ (Stranglers cover)
Opening up proceedings this evening are Brighton based punks The Glitterbombs who according to their social media are “Ready to blow” or as vocalist and guitarist Niall Sparklez’s dad puts it “Urgent but nothing new”. Niall is joined by Captain Jax of Daffadildos fame on bass and backing vocals, and Jimmy Guest on drums.
They have been releasing material for 9 years now, with the unplanned Covid gaps taking their toll on releases in the middle of their tenure. 2016 witnessed the release of ‘Yesterday’s Gone’ demo EP, ‘May Day’ demo EP dropped in 2018, and last year the trio unleashed their nine track ‘Take Two’ EP, which is well represented during their 35 minute 14 track performance, which ran from 8:04pm to 8:39pm.
The Glitterboms remind me of a glitter faced version of Joe & The Shitboys, with their denim attire. They kick off with the first of three tracks from their ‘May Day’ EP, this being ‘Emo My Life Away’ and this is swiftly followed by ‘Could’ve Had’ which is the first of four as yet to be recorded tunes. Niall, who does a mean double leg shake when playing guitar and not singing, then informs us that the next tune will be their ‘Smother’ single (which also appears on last year’s ‘Take Two’ EP) and this was a speedy punk number of note. Three tunes in and we get a grasp of their pop-punk harmonies akin to the Buzzcocks and the punters are liking what they are hearing. The unreleased ‘Cashless Society’ is the trio’s next choice, and Jax points out the imminent demise of our paper friends, so in short the message is “Use it or lose it”.
Niall then informs us they are going to play their ‘LGB (With The TNB)’ single next, with the “TNB” referring to “trans non-binary”. Like a few of their tunes, the choruses are easy to learn on account of their catchy repetition. This is followed by ‘Tina Is An Anarchist’ from 2018’s ‘May Day’ EP, which initially has a Gen X ‘Dancing With Myself’ vibe, but then it speeds up Ramones style, and in fact would have made a great Ramones song title come to think of it. ‘Together Alone’ from the ‘Take Two’ EP is up next and followed by ‘Landlord’s Raising The Rent (Again)’. Now The Glitterbombs have recorded this track twice, firstly on 2018’s ‘May Day’ EP and then again on last year’s ‘Take Two’ EP. I reckon that tonight’s version is from the first release on account of its brevity. You see the second version comes in at a massive 5 seconds, whereas the original is just 1 second! There is just enough time for Niall to shout “F*ck” and the drums get one hit and the bass and guitar get one trash. Thankfully, all three were bang on for this tune! Clearly they have been practicing!
The final unreleased track comes next, this being ‘Another Fighting Day’ which sits in the mould of the Clash, the Members, the Ruts, and Stiff Little Fingers, when they do a reggae vibe. The Glitterbombs then sign off with a handful from last year’s EP, the first of which being ‘Golden Countries’, followed by ‘Johnny Ain’t A Tragedy’ and then ‘Proletariat Dictatorship’ which is introduced by Jax, to which some jokers in the crowd “whoop” as in “look big words!”. This speedy ditty is another sub-one minute number, and is followed by ‘May Day’, which for me was their choice cut of the set on account of it sounding like GBH. They signed off with ‘Against The Wall’ which has a wicked guitar riff, and that was our lot! To summarize, dad was correct, but they are still fun!
You can catch The Glitterbombs live in Brighton on Friday 14th November when they will be performing at Daltons as part of the ‘Punks 4 Palestine’ charity fundraiser event along with Rites Of Hadda, Family Of Strangers, and The Crying Out Louds – Snap up your tickets HERE.
Check out the band’s releases on their Bandcamp page HERE.
The Glitterbombs:
Niall Sparklez – guitar, vocals (he/him)
Captain Jax – bass (they/them)
Jimmy Guest – drums (he/him)
The Glitterbombs setlist:
‘Emo My Life Away’ (from 2018 ‘May Day’ EP)
‘Could’ve Had’ (unreleased)
‘Smother’ (from 2024 ‘Take Two’ EP)
‘Cashless Society’ unreleased)
‘LGB (With The TNB)’ (from 2024 ‘Take Two’ EP)
‘Tina Is An Anarchist’ (from 2018 ‘May Day’ EP)
‘Together Alone’ (from 2024 ‘Take Two’ EP)
‘Landlord’s Raising The Rent (Again)’ (from 2018 ‘May Day’ EP)
‘Another Fighting Day’ (unreleased)
‘Golden Countries’ (from 2024 ‘Take Two’ EP)
‘Johnny Ain’t A Tragedy’ (from 2024 ‘Take Two’ EP)
‘Proletariat Dictatorship’ (from 2024 ‘Take Two’ EP)
‘May Day’ (from 2024 ‘Take Two’ EP)
‘Against The Wall’ (from 2024 ‘Take Two’ EP)
