THEATRE OF HATE + SKELETAL FAMILY – CHALK BRIGHTON 2.10.25
Theatre Of Hate are this evening back in Brighton as part of their select 8 date tour where they were performing their ‘Westworld’ album in full as well as the relevant singles a B-sides. The tour kicked off on 25th September 2025 and will be running until 5th October 2025. The lucky places being Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle, Brighton, London, Leeds and Bristol. Tonight’s Brighton gig is happening at the Chalk venue in Pool Valley with special guests West Yorkshire post punk/gothic rockers Skeletal Family.
In 1980, Kirk Brandon formed Theatre Of Hate from the ashes of heralded punk band The Pack. Joining Kirk on vocals were notable punk musicians Stan Stammers and Luke Rendall, along with old school friend, Steve Guthrie and Canadian born John “Boy” Lennard, who revolutionised the band’s sound with his haunting sax lines.
Theatre Of Hate’s debut double-A-side single, ‘Legion’/’Original Sin’, topped the independent chart in 1980, and ‘Westworld’, their debut album, produced by Mick Jones from The Clash and released in 1982, held the number one position in the independent chart for 21 weeks. The single taken from the album, ‘Do You Believe In The Westworld?’ has become an anthem and is still widely played in clubs and on international radio, as well as featuring on numerous compilation albums. Theatre Of Hate then went on to support the likes of The Clash and Ian Dury as well as headlining major venues across the UK & Northern Europe.
Unfortunately Theatre Of Hate imploded in 1982, whereby Kirk and Stan formed Spear Of Destiny, who also went on to have chart success. However, Theatre Of Hate have resurfaced over the years to play some very special shows, including joining The Damned for a massive show at London’s infamous Roundhouse in December 2014. Theatre Of Hate then released their first new studio album in 30+ years with the arrival of ‘Kinshi’ which dropped on 14th October 2016. The 12 new songs were simply stunning and signalled a true return to form. In 2020 the outfit dropped another long player in the form of ‘Utsukushi-sa (A Thing Of Beauty)’.
Tonight, however, it’s all about the celebration of their acclaimed ‘Westworld’ album, and I’m seriously impressed how many folk have got on board and purchased their tickets for this evening’s bash. The lineup tonight are founder members Kirk Brandon (lead vocals, cordless Gretsch guitar) and Stan Stammers (cordless Fender bass, backing vocals), along with regular stalwarts Clive Osborne (saxophone) and Chris Bell (drums). We are graced with their presence for 89 minutes from 8:30pm until 9:59pm. During this time we are rewarded 18 quality tunes.
The houselights go down and there’s an air of anticipation as their intro tape readies the crowd. This being ‘Apocoloppola’ by Little Nobody, which is an interesting choice but certainly not as dramatic as ‘Ride Of The Valkyries’ (which turned up in the famed ‘Apocalypse Now’ film) which was used as their intro back in the day. To our left (stage right) we have Clive, centre stage is Kirk, behind him is Chris, and to our right (stage left) is Stan. It’s their usual positions! Interestingly, I note that the three front boys all opt for the turned up trousers as part of their fashion regalia. As always Stan is wearing a Cosh Boh t-shirt, tonight’s is a white one, but I prefer my black one of the same design to be honest. The venue is relatively packed with a smattering of younger folk, but a majority are of mature persuasion, just like myself. I’m here with my mate Guy and his daughter, and Guy and I were endeavouring to work out the first time we actually witnessed Theatre Of Hate live in action. This would have been 45 years ago! The Basement Club was mentioned as well as other forgotten Brighton grassroots joints from back in the day.
The dry-ice fills the stage and the quartet are off! Kirk announces “Hello Brighton!” and Stan’s bass starts to rumble for the intro of ‘63’ from 1982’s ‘Westworld’ album. This goes down rather well and is followed by another cut from the LP, this time it’s ‘Judgement Hymn’ with its sax and bass intro. It’s a powerful tune with the drums and sax of note. Chris then gets the drums underway for ‘My Own Invention’ from the 1981 ‘Rebel Without A Brain’ single. It benefits from some funky bass action and there’s a distinctive vocal echo of the last words of some of the lines sung by Kirk as well. The sax and drums work pretty well on this number. The quartet then segue straight into the slower brooding cut that is ‘The Wake’ from ‘Westworld’ and Stan is as usual covering more of the stage area than the other three, he then says “thank you, it’s great to be back in Brighton”. After which he kicks off their 1981 ‘Nero’ single on his bass, followed by the drums, then guitar, with the sax coming in mid-tune. On completion this track is giving the loudest applause thus far. I have to flag up Chris’ drumming on this as well.
‘Anniversary’ from ‘Westworld’ is selection six and although not exactly the strongest tune of the performance, it is noted for its slow strumming echoey guitar action from Kirk and its thoughtful mournful sax passages as well. There’s more sax action on ‘Freaks’ from ‘Westworld’ with its circus clown stint. This is followed by another slow chugging number in the form of ‘The Klan’ a lengthy cut from the same LP, with Kirk wailing like a goodun and Chris’ drums really being solid. The 1982 ‘The Hop’ single is up next with its great guitar notes near the end. They have arrived at the halfway mark of the set and for yours truly, it’s from here on in that the gig increases with arguably better material. The first of these being ‘Conquistador’ from ‘Westworld’ with its cowboy-vibed beat and solo guitar action from Kirk. This has hymn-like tendencies and the vocals are delivered with true feelings, whilst the choppy strums add to the feel. ‘Love Is A Ghost’ from ‘Westworld’ is next and this has an impressive guitar echo to kick things off in a lounge-lizard kinda way.
It’s time for the immense ‘Legion’ from 1980’s ‘Original Sin’/’Legion’ single, which was my first purchase of the band back in the day. With a “1-2-3-4” from Kirk and they are away! Stan is rather animated here and patrols the stage whilst pointing his bass out over the crowd. There’s a notable section of the crowd singing away to this and it’s a clear fan favourite, although possibly not delivered with the same anger of youth when released. Their 1981 ‘Rebel Without A Brain’ single is up next with its solid drumming and sax intro. There’s much arm raising and pointing by a large number of the fans during this track during its chorus. ‘Poppies’ from their excellent 1981 ‘Live At The Lyceum’ cassette, came next with its solid heavy drum patterns and sax parts, and abrupt ending, followed by ‘Do You Believe In The Westworld?’ which after a second or so is greeted by many cheers and whoops from the punters, it’s arguably the fans favourite, and easily to see why as the quartet absolutely nailed it!
The quartet vacated the stage at this point, but were encouraged back and we were served a trio of top cuts, commencing with ‘Incinerator’ from their 1981 ‘Nero’ single, which sees Chris on stage first and offloading a solo, before the others return to join in. It’s quite a funky number for Theatre Of Hate, but the fans love it and they pump a fist in the air during the chorus; “Hold me till you; Hold me till you; Hold me till you die”. The penultimate track tonight is their 1980 ‘Original Sin’ single, which is always a pleasure to hear. They signed off with my new favourite song of the set, this being ‘Propaganda’ from 1982’s ‘Do You Believe In The Westworld?’ single, with its drum intro, then epic bass notes, then guitar and vocals, suffice to say it was an absolute blinder! 45 years on from my first encounter with the band and they still deliver!
Theatre Of Hate:
Kirk Brandon – lead vocals, guitar
Stan Stammers – bass, backing vocals
Clive Osborne – saxophone
Chris Bell – drums
Theatre Of Hate setlist:
Intro tape (‘Apocoloppola’ by Little Nobody)
‘63’ (from 1982 ‘Westworld’ album)
‘Judgement Hymn’ (from 1982 ‘Westworld’ album)
‘My Own Invention’ (from 1981 ‘Rebel Without A Brain’ single)
‘The Wake’ (from 1982 ‘Westworld’ album)
‘Nero’ (from 1981 ‘Nero’ single)
‘Anniversary’ (from 1982 ‘Westworld’ album)
‘Freaks’ (from 1982 ‘Westworld’ album)
‘The Klan’ (from 1982 ‘Westworld’ album)
‘The Hop’ (from 1982 ‘The Hop’ single)
‘Conquistador’ (from 1982 ‘Westworld’ album)
‘Love Is A Ghost’ (from 1982 ‘Westworld’ album)
‘Legion’ (from 1980 ‘Original Sin’/’Legion’ single)
‘Rebel Without A Brain’ (from 1981 ‘Rebel Without A Brain’ single)
‘Poppies’ (from 1981 ‘Live At The Lyceum’ cassette)
‘Do You Believe In The Westworld?’ (from 1982 ‘Westworld’ album)
(encore)
‘Incinerator’ (from 1981 ‘Nero’ single)
‘Original Sin’ (from 1980 ‘Original Sin’/’Legion’ single)
‘Propaganda’ (from 1982 ‘Do You Believe In The Westworld?’ single)
Support for the tour and thus this evening came from Skeletal Family who are a post-punk/gothic rock band from West Yorkshire, who were initially active from 1982 until 1986. They remained on hiatus until 2002 when they reformed. They enjoyed relatively major national and international success, from topping the National UK Indie Charts for three weeks in Autumn 1984 with debut album ‘Burning Oil’, as well as recording seven BBC Radio One sessions for John Peel, Janice Long and Kid Jensen.
Their impressive live show at this time brought them to the attention of The Sisters Of Mercy front man Andrew Eldritch, who, after seeing a local performance, invited them as special guests on their 1984 ‘Black October’ tour, which included a date at Brighton’s Top Rank Suite on 22nd October. This being their second visit to Brighton having played The Ship on 21st February 1984. They would return two more times the following year, on 16th July 1985 they played The Escape Club (now Patterns) and then on 3rd November they were at The Richmond. As far as I can recall, I wasn’t at any of these previous performances, and so this evening is very likely to be my debut encounter with Skeletal Family on the fifth time of asking.
Undeterred, following vocalist Anne Hurst’s sudden departure in 1985 following the release of their second album ‘Futile Combat’, the band enjoyed greater national chart success with the singles ‘Restless’ and ‘Just A Minute’ via signing to Chrysalis Records with new vocalist Katrina Phillips (from ex Specials Terry Hall’s band The Colourfield, single ‘Thinking Of You’).
This line up of the group disbanded in 1987, but due to the advent of the worldwide web, reissues of earlier studio and compilation albums, along with a rapidly growing resurgence of interest in eighties music and culture the band reformed again in 2002. Now consisting of original members Stan Greenwood, Roger “Trotwood” Nowell and Ian “Karl Heinz” Taylor, i.e. the main songwriters of the band (all of whom were in the original precursor to Skeletal Family from 1979 called The Elements) produced two new original studio albums ‘Sakura’ and ‘Songs Of Love Hope & Despair’ alongside a third release on Jungle Records titled ‘Day Of All Days’.
2020 / 2021 saw the band utilising the Covid pandemic to their advantage. Alongside vocalist Anneka Latta and drummer Adrian “Ozzy” Osadzenko the band recorded 19 new songs at Paul Weller’s Black Barn Studios in Ripley. The album ‘Light From The Dark’ was released on 22nd April 2023 to critical acclaim. They have since appeared at Wave Gotik Treffen Leipzig and Darker Waves Huntington Beach California as well as various dates in the UK and USA.
Tonight at Chalk the band take to the expansive stage and the musicians are the younger pairing of Anneka Latta (vocals) and Adrian “Ozzy” Osadzenko (drums/percussion), as well as founder members Roger “Trotwood” Nowell (Fender Jazz bass) and Ian “Karl Heinz” Taylor (Korg Kronos keyboards and saxophone), and I spy Spear Of Destiny guitarist Adrian Portas instead of Stan Greenwood. We are in their company for 41 minutes from 7:19pm until 8pm on the dot, and in that time we are given 10 tracks.
First up is ‘Move’ from 1985’s ‘Futile Combat’ album which rocked along rather nicely with the drums and sax to the fore. Next up were two cuts from the 2023 ‘Light From The Dark’ album, namely ‘New Horizon’ and ‘Edge Of A Dream’. “Karl Heinz” switches from sax to keys for these, but sadly they are right down in the mix, and I’m standing immediately below him. Anneka’s strong vocal deliveries strangely remind me of Pauline Murray from Penetration, and the drumming on both tunes is of note, especially on ‘Edge Of A Dream’ with the floor reverberating under my feet, which I guess adds to the all-encompassing feeling of the set. The band aren’t actually introduced throughout the set and banter is kept to a bare minimum, but we do receive a “thank you” at this juncture from Anneka. Their 1986 ‘Just A Minute’ single is up next and the bass and drums combination have a beat similar to Joy Division’s ‘Isolation’ and the track affords a full-on rock style ending which goes down well with the punters. Anneka busies herself with her smiley, bouncy demeanor as she often swishes her dress whilst delivering her lines.
Thus far Skeletal Family have been a lot less gothy than I had anticipated, but with the arrival of ‘She Cries Alone’ from 1984’s ‘Recollect’ mini-album, I note a Siouxsie & The Banshees guitar and drums interplay. The tune has an almost Arabic vibe to it, with notable drums and cymbal action making this the current highlight so far. Anneka’s vocals go up a notch on ‘Beautiful Disaster’ from 2023’s ‘Light From The Dark’ album, and clearly they are highly proficient musicians, although I wish that “Karl Heinz” would move around a bit, as he’s virtually motionless throughout when playing the keys. “Thank you very much, it’s nice to be here in Brighton” states Anneka, and adds “We would like to give you a treat, it’s a new song for you”, this being ‘Away From You’, which encouragingly is indistinguishable from their older material. It’s a bouncy, rockin’ tune, with some great drumming and “Karl Heinz” is on both keys and sax on different times throughout.
“You having a good time?” enquires Anneka prior to the quintet offloading ‘Cry Baby’ from ‘Light From The Dark’, which witnesses some showmanship from “Ozzy” on drums as he regularly spins the drumstick in his right hand, as well as also spinning and catching it, which adds to the flamboyance of his delivery. After a “Thank you” the grinding guitar kicks off ‘Watch Me’ from their 2016 ‘Eternal (Singles · Albums · Rarities · BBC Sessions · Live · Demos 1982-2015)’ box set. After the guitar start the drums kick in and they are away, with the cymbal action reminding me of Siouxsie & The Banshees. The sax worked well near the end of the song with the “In the rain” repeated vocal. This was another set highlight for me and they segued straight into the slightly faster ‘Promised Land’ from 1985’s ‘Futile Combat’ album. Again Siouxsie & The Banshees sprang to mind especially on the swirling guitar and bass action. This was arguably the best number of the set and a good choice to end on, with its full set of power driven chords and its rock outro. They received hearty cheers from the punters and so it was very much a job done, and OK I admit it, they were miles better than I thought that they were going to be! And that’s why you should always check out the support acts! Suffice to say that at 7:19pm the venue was a tad sparse, unlike the ending of their set at 8pm, so obviously many folk missed the beginning which is a great shame.
Skeletal Family:
Anneka Latta – vocals
Adrian Portas – guitar
Roger “Trotwood” Nowell – bass
Ian “Karl Heinz” Taylor – keyboards/saxophone
Adrian “Ozzy” Osadzenko – drums/percussion
Skeletal Family setlist:
‘Move’ (from 1985 ‘Futile Combat’ album)
‘New Horizon’ (from 2023 ‘Light From The Dark’ album)
‘Edge Of A Dream’ (from 2023 ‘Light From The Dark’ album)
‘Just A Minute’ (a 1986 single)
‘She Cries Alone’ (from 1984 ‘Recollect’ mini-album)
‘Beautiful Disaster’ (from 2023 ‘Light From The Dark’ album)
‘Away From You’ (unreleased)
‘Cry Baby’ (from 2023 ‘Light From The Dark’ album)
‘Watch Me’ (from 2016 ‘Eternal (Singles · Albums · Rarities · BBC Sessions · Live · Demos 1982-2015)’ box set
‘Promised Land’ (from 1985 ‘Futile Combat’ album)
