TOO MANY CROOKS + TV SMITH + NEWTOWN NEUROTICS + SCARE TAXI + MARK THOMAS + JESS SILK + MUDDY SUMMERS & THE DIRTY FIELD WHORES + NOIR MATES + GRIPPER LEE – THE BARN, SOUTHWICK COMMUNITY CENTRE 25.7.26
Saturday 25th July:
GRIPPER LEE (13:30 – 14:00) (Estimated timings)
Saturday at ‘Alive At The Barn’ at Southwick Community Centre, starts promptly at 1.30pm with Gripper Lee. They’re a classic three piece comprising Richie Nice on lead vocals and bass, Justin Saban on guitar and Martin ‘Gripper’ Lee on drums. I must confess that the band aren’t as alternative as I was expecting, with the music being blues-based punk, as played by the early punk bands. It was only with post-punk that blues scales were deemed to be beyond the pale.
However, Gripper Lee’s music has a menacingly dark feel which really adds to its character. They have a dry sense of humour too. The penultimate song is dedicated to “anyone who’s accidentally started a war in the Middle East.” Can’t think who they might be referring to. There’s some tastefully mangled guitar chords being deployed, and some fiery soloing too from Justin. They finish with “a quick anti-apathy song, if we can be bothered.” They have a couple of albums in the shape of “So What Do We Know” and “Hymn For A Godless Universe” which are both well worth a listen.
NOIR MATES (14:15 – 15:00)
The timings at ‘Alive at The Barn’ are really quite remarkable as there is only fifteen minutes between acts. What’s even more remarkable is that these timings are by and large very efficiently adhered to. So it is that only a quarter of an hour after Gripper Lee have left the stage, Noir Mates appear. Opener ‘Gary Cooper’ is quite ethereal. The general feel is unsurprisingly dark and gothic influenced. The vocalist’s voice goes through an array of pedals that makes him sound unlike anyone else I’ve ever heard. ‘Big Black Car’ features a clean sounding surf guitar solo, which sounds like it should be completely incongruous, but it fits right in. The singer was wearing a clown’s mask for the first couple of songs, which made him look quite sinister, but he quickly ditches it.
‘Mo Plastic’ is faster and has a fuzzy bass intro. The bass line is pleasingly busy and the song reminds me of Joy Division. It’s very gothic and gradually slows down to a stop. The guitar soloing so far has been superb. The guitarist looks like he’s playing a PRS. The singer jumps into the audience then sits leaning against the stage. The guitarist is playing slide and it all sounds pretty satanic. They play what sounds like a cover of The Cramps’ ‘Human Fly’. If it is, it’s different enough to the original for them to make it their own.
For ‘Cul de Sac’ they’re joined by a sax player who stays with them for the rest of the set. He adds another facet to their sound, soloing with the guitarist and on his own. Despite the sax, this particular song puts me in mind of Johnny Thunders And The Heartbreakers, with a dash of The Velvet Underground thrown in. There’s no two ways about it, this has been a cracking set. If you like gothic post punk you could do a lot worse than see Noir Mates. They play Brighton Pipeline on 25th September and 30th October.
www.instagram.com/thenoirmates
MUDDY SUMMERS & THE DIRTY FIELD WHORES (15:15 – 16:00)
Next up are the improbably titled Muddy Summers And The Dirty Field Whores. They’re a four piece who at first sight at least seem very clean. They specialise in pop punk swing which is also somewhat reminiscent of skiffle. Their lyrics are socio-political. An example from the first song is: “don’t vote f*cking fascist”, which seems at the very least fairly sensible. The bassist is playing a short scale bass which makes her look quite tall. I play bass and I’m not very tall. Perhaps if I get a small scale bass it’ll have the same effect on me! ‘Get Off My T*ts’ is about having your picture removed from Facebook because your breasts are slightly visible. Well, people do like to have something to complain about. The third song which may be called ‘Plant Roses In It’ calls for some audience participation, and we all sing the line “too much sh*t and not enough roses”.
For the first three songs the lyrics have been really good, but unfortunately the music has been interchangeable between the three. That all changes with song number four which has fingerpicked guitar, is in ¾, and is very quiet. The singer occasionally plays what appears to be an electric oboe, but I’m not sure if that’s what it is. It sounds good anyway, which I guess is the main thing. A song which may be called ‘Goldfish’ is apparently “difficult to dance to”. Difficult? Make that impossible! It starts with two bars in 4/4 followed by a couple in ¾, and then the number of bars in each time signature seems to vary. The musicians know where they are though so that’s okay.
They sing about Andrew Tait: “castrate and annihilate.” Not sure that’s allowed under English law at present, but maybe one day. The final song is quite long, sounds a bit Eastern European, and may be called ‘Better Chow’. As the song approaches its finale it repeatedly speeds up on the guitarist’s instruction. The band haven’t used a setlist tonight and have decided what to play as they go along. I really like that. Muddy Summers And The Dirty Field Whores have been entertaining, thought provoking, and a whole lotta fun. They don’t appear to have any gigs planned at present, but if you get the chance to see them, do it!
JESS SILK (16:15 – 17:00)
A quarter of an hour whizzes by and we’re joined by Jess Silk. Jess is a solo acoustic singer/songwriter with the most amazingly gritty voice. Her first song is quite happy, but her next song is introduced as “a song of abject misery.” Be that as it may, it’s pretty compelling. It’s an anti-fascist song, and unfortunately we can’t really have too many of those at the moment. Another song is about the destruction of our landscape and history, with particular reference to HS2.
One quietly strummed song is particularly powerful: it’s about a woman being burnt at the stake as a witch. On the one hand that may seem like ancient history. On the other hand with the rising incidence of femicide it’s a song that needs to be heard. “There’s A Bar At The End Of The World” is an absolute classic. The rest of the world just don’t know it yet.
Jess plays ‘Atlas’ pretending that we’ve requested it. It’s fingerpicked and beautifully delicate. Jess gets the five minute warning, and we get a song that may be about touring. The crowd link arms and sing along. Atilla The Stockbroker joins Jess for the song’s close. Jess seems to be permanently on the road and has dates booked into January next year. She plays at Rebellion Festival in Blackpool next month. I’ll definitely be catching her there.
MARK THOMAS (17:15 – 18:15)
For a bit of a change, and to give everyone a chance to sit down, we have a comedian called Mark Thomas. There are too many funny stories to recount here, but one that amused me is as follows. The head of the Richardson clan came along to see Mark early in his career. After the gig the chief Richardson came into the dressing room with a couple of his henchmen and yelled “right! Everybody out! Except (points to Mark) you!!!” Everybody goes and Mr Richardson exclaims to Mark: “you are a young Larry Grayson!!!” Blimey. In Mark’s position, what would you say?
SCARE TAXI (18:30 – 19:15)
We return to the music with Scare Taxi, who are another Brighton based band. They’re a duo consisting of Tara Guitara Harley on bass and vocals, and Alexander Boag on guitar and vocals. The drums are on the backing track. This is becoming less of a disappointment to me, as I’m getting used to the fact that not everything can always be performed live. Besides, drummers can sometimes be a little strange.
Tara and Alexander share lead vocals much of the time. They harmonise really well too. The guitar is initially far too quiet whilst the bass is really punchy throughout. Having been in operation for ten years they have a fair old back catalogue. Nonetheless we’re treated to a couple of new songs which rock bloody hard. Unfortunately they lost quite a lot of time with technical problems at the beginning of their set, so their time was cut short. Despite that, I’ve really enjoyed what I’ve seen and heard, and shall be keeping my eyes peeled for future dates.
NEWTOWN NEUROTICS (19:30 – 20:30)
Next we are entertained by some actual living legends in the shape of Newtown Neurotics. The original band split in October 1988, and re-formed in 2006 with Steve Drewett as the only original member, although original drummer Simon Lomond rejoined in 2015. Tonight they show that as a live band they remain frankly awesome. They’re still one of the great British power trios. Their political beliefs remain undimmed, with many of their earlier songs such as ‘When The Oil Runs Out’ still remaining relevant.
They play songs from their debut album ‘Beggars Can Be Choosers’ which sounds as if it could have been released this year. Simon Lomond’s drumming is as powerful and impressive as ever. Their set closes with ‘Living With Unemployment’, which is a re-worked cover of The Members’ ‘Solitary Confinement’, and is sadly just as topical as it was when it was released over forty years ago. They tour with Atilla The Stockbroker in September.
TV SMITH (20:45 – 21:45)
We now move on from one living legend to another: TV Smith. I’ve seen TV Smith playing in various formats before – with The Bored Teenagers, as TV Smith & Friends, and playing solo acoustic, which is probably my favourite way to see him play. That’s lucky, because that’s what we get tonight. When playing on his own he plays with a power and ferocity that you don’t quite get when he’s playing with a band.
Tonight that power and ferocity is present and correct, despite the fact that he’s just turned 70. Surely that can’t be correct? TV is not afraid to revisit his earliest back catalogue and we get ‘No Time To Be 21’ and ‘Bored Teenagers’ from the debut Adverts Album ‘Crossing The Red Sea With The Adverts’. There are newer songs too however, such as ‘Countdown To The End Of The Tyrants’, which is dystopian to a degree, but also recognisably realistic, which makes it pretty frightening.
‘One Day My String Will Snap’ features the terrifyingly true line “it’s expensive being poor”. ‘The Lost Generation’ could easily be about Generation Y, whilst ‘Common Enemy’ is about the Establishment turning people against each other. ‘Handwriting’ is about a dystopian future where the Establishment tells us what to do (and we obey) whilst ‘One Minute To Midnight’ is about the climate crisis. ‘Apparently Not’ meanwhile is about whether things really are as bad as they seem.
The bulk of tonight’s set has been incredibly thought provoking. TV Smith is a definite contender for being spokesperson for his generation, and probably for a few others too. As the set comes to a close TV is joined by Atilla The Stockbroker on violin for a few oldies, Including ‘Gary Gilmore’s Eyes’, ‘My Face’ and ‘One Chord Wonders’. The joke about the latter song, of course, is that it contains at least four chords. TV Smith plays the Rebellion Festival in August, and tours extensively throughout the UK during September and October.
TOO MANY CROOKS (22:00 – 23:00)
After the power and fury of TV Smith, I must confess that headliners Too Many Crooks seem to be a bit of an anti-climax. This is both unfair and rather a shame as they’re a sh*t hot ska band who are clearly something of a party band, and one would have thought the perfect festival headliner. They have a very strong brass section and are definite crowd pleasers, with the majority of the crowd skanking. One of the sax players also takes lead vocals. He tells us that he has to speak very quickly as they don’t have much time due to them being delayed by technical issues.
They have a song about being happy, which is not something that you would get from TV Smith, although to be fair he seemed happy enough. Unfortunately their set is truncated, the venue having a very strict 11pm curfew. Relatively short though their set may have been, it’s caused my legs and particularly my knees to hurt. Apparently dancing is bad for you. This has been a brilliant festival, full of character (and indeed, characters). I shall be here next year. If they’ll have me back.
www.instagram.com/too_many_crooks
READ OUR ACCOUNT OF DAY ONE HERE.
