BATHING SUITS + GIRL APOCRYPHA – VOLKS, BRIGHTON 8.10.26
I really dunno where time flies these days! It seems like just three months ago that I was witnessing Leeds based electro-noise outfit Bathing Suits play their debut Brighton concert as headliners at The Rossi Bar on Queens Road, and yet when I looked the date up it was actually 14 months ago, on 12th August 2025.
Back then I stated “Watching Bathing Suits in action this evening reminded me of when I first saw Fat Dog at ‘The Great Escape’ a few years ago and since then they have filled Brighton’s Chalk venue and conquered ‘Glastonbury’. I had the same feeling when seeing Sextile at The Prince Albert back in 2018, and now they too have broken through and perform to much larger crowds over the other side of the pond and mainland Europe. Lets face it, there’s a new buzz around Bathing Suits that will certainly grow and grow!”
It seems that my prediction is coming to fruition as the Bathing Suits quartet have now sold out the Volks venue on Madeira Drive. A venue previously (and currently) famed for its club nights and mod bashes, you will begin to see more and more live music events being staged here as they have built up the ground floor stage, added a green room for the acts, and generally tarted up the place. However, I’m not sure that either the air conditioning has been installed or that it’s not turned on, as the venue genuinely becomes a real sweatbox tonight, with the stench of hot sweaty bodies!
Bathing Suits comprise Freyja Blevins on vocals, and laptop instead of drum machine, (more on that in a moment), George Dickinson (guitar), Alex Mulholland (guitar) and Elise Hughes (bass). They have thus far released one 4 track cassette titled ‘Lousy Havoc’ / ‘Relay’ which dropped in February last year, followed up a few months later in August by their ‘I Can Be A Freak’ single, and in April this year they dropped a 12” vinyl 5-tune release called ‘Kill Bathing Suits’. which was limited to 500 copies.
Tonight’s set ran for a mere 29 minutes, which incidentally was the same length as their debut Brighton gig at The Rossi Bar. That night went smoothly, but there’s real tension in the air tonight as the band should have taken to the stage quite a bit earlier, but there was a massive problem as Freyja informed us, that the drum machine broke during their soundcheck today, and they frantically had to think outside the box! A laptop was procured from somewhere (maybe it was their own?), and Freyja asked the crowd whether anyone actually had a USB stick (dongle), and amazingly someone did and so that was connected to the laptop and finally at 9:27pm they were ready to go!
From the very off, the crowd are a tad lively and so with one eye on the musicians and the other on the boisterous moshers immediately behind me, I endeavour to get into the groove. Suffice to say that every tune has a booming electronic beat and the guitars are often used as an instrument of distortion. During tune two ‘I Can Be A Freak’ there are already folk getting up on stage with the musicians and stage diving off of it. There is respite between each track though as Freyja has to load each of the songs onto the laptop. It’s a shame that the continuity is broken, but then again it’s better than having to cancel the gig due to no drum machine.
Freyja is very much the central figure of the outfit due to stature and the diminishing amounts of clothing throughout the set. The long blond locks freely flowing add to the vibe, as does when one of the guitarists plays the guitar with his forehead, and then with a bottle of Corona beer. The beer is then placed on the stage floor and its contents spills and before very long the guitarist becomes a victim of his own spillage, but immediately gets up again as though nothing had ever happened! A broken guitar string being the only victim in this instance, if you don’t count pride. Bassist Elise is rockin’ like a metronome at the rear of the stage, which is rather energetic for a bass player these days.
The chaos on and off the stage reminds me of the Sheep On Drugs gigs that I used to go and see many years ago! At one stage Freyja decides to leap off the stage and bounce around in the moshpit. When on stage Freyja’s hips are given a good old seductive swivel. Overall, the performance had that punk flying by the seat of your pants feel about it and I did enjoy it, but looking back, not as much as their set 14 months earlier. Having said that, it would have very likely been on par if that pesky drum machine had been working.
Bathing Suits:
Freyja Blevins – vocals, laptop
George Dickinson – guitar
Alex Mulholland – guitar
Elise Hughes – bass
Support this evening comes from Girl Apocrypha who are fronted by none other than Emia Demir on vocals and guitar, who I first came across back on 10th September 2023, when she was the guitarist for local outfit Rottweiler. The other trio on stage this evening with her are the highlight talented and understated Willow Simpson on left-handed guitar (with added tremolo action), Nathan Hayward on drums, and Molly on bass. There’s a laptop to the side of the stage as well, which I think Willow was keeping an eye on. Their set commenced at 8:01pm and fused dark alternative rock, post-punk edge and dark-pop theatrics.
According to their setlist, they were performing ‘Dealer’, ‘Love Song’, ‘Sam Ft Andy’, . ‘Like Adam Would’, ‘Madonna’ and ‘Me & U’. However, I’m not so sure the final number got an airing. Luckily for Girl Apocrypha, the Volks venue is virtually full even before a single note has been played, so this must have been pleasing for them!
True to form there’s copious amounts of wah wah pedal action from Willow this evening who simply performs in an understated way. Whenever I see Cordelia Gartside, Will is in her band, so the talent has been observed by many. Emia informs us that tune two was penned about getting blackout drunk at Volks. The third cut, which we informed was about Daniel Radcliife’s cock, witnesses a chum of theirs take to the stage for joint vocals and beer drinking, and is their rockist tune thus far.
Emia keeps the theme going by next stating that if she had a cock that it would be enormous, cue chuckles from the punters. The music at this point harks back to the heavy rock vibes of the first half of the 1970’s. On their sleek, dark-pop disco pulsed ‘Madonna’ single, a red phone prop is used with great aplomb by Emia. And that was about it!
Girl Apocrypha:
Emia Demir – vocals, guitar
Willow Simpson – guitar
Nathan Hayward – drums
Molly – bass
