THE DARTS + MUDLOW – DALTONS, BRIGHTON 8.11.26
Zombies, vampires, trauma bonds and a super-fan going ‘batty’ on stage. The Darts were more than worth the price of entry.
Inexplicably, I’ve spent years managing to miss The Darts. It’s not been deliberate… I’ve just never been in the right place at the right time.
At Daltons in Brighton this week I finally put that right. I loved every minute, and there’s now a new name at the top of my must-see-again list. This is a band whose live shows shouldn’t be missed, so if you see them advertised at your local grassroots venue of choice, bag yourself a ticket, and tell your friends.
This female four-piece started life in Arizona but are now based in Seattle, and this Brighton gig was the last night of the UK leg before they headed over into mainland Europe.
They’re ten years into their career, but they sound so vibrantly fresh – like they’re just getting started.
‘Apocalypse’ kicks the door in. The opener from March’s ‘Halloween Love Songs’ comes at you at full tilt, all Farfisa and snarling gnarly guitar over a rhythm section that never lets you grab a breath, and the set barely stops for air from there on in. Most of it is lifted from the new album, but there’s a few older favourites dropped in as to be expected, and the subject matter runs from zombies and vampires to trauma bonds.
‘Zombies On The Metro’ and ‘Vampires In Love’ play like a drive-in double-feature – fast, cool and tremendously trashy fun – and then ‘Devil Made Me Do It’ and ‘Darkness‘ keep the band’s foot down on the gas for a relentless ride through the shadows of the night. It’s very tight.
The base recipe is pure 1960s garage punk and B-movie horror, with psychobilly in some of the beats and riffs, and by Nicole’s own admission a bit of 90’s Seattle grunge… picked up since they moved to their new home. ‘Punk Rock Girl’ brings a proper blast of riot grrrl, and ‘Hanging By A Thread‘ doesn’t let the temperature drop by a single fraction of a degree.
Nicole Laurenne is a charismatic – if slightly demented – frontwoman and a photographer’s dream. She spends half the gig perched on her Farfisa and the other half somewhere underneath it.
And she’s as central to the show as she is to the music. It’s theatrical and frenzied, and the band are way bigger than life-sized. Put them on any stage, anywhere, and they’d fill it.
Between songs Nicole fills in the stories and influences behind the music and makes a point of crediting bassist Lindsay Scarey for her part in the writing. ‘Désolée‘ gets introduced in the language of whatever country they’re in, which so far has stretched from Japanese to Catalan.
Then ‘Midnight Creep’ kicks in… A song which started life as one of Lindsay’s demos, and scores points as probably the best moment of the night.
A brave soul from the crowd is invited up to dance the chorus with them: a full-on mime of bat wings, vampires and a marching black cat. It’s ridiculous, but the room lapped it up.
After ‘No Love’ there’s no walk-off and wait. They announce the last two songs as the encore and just play them: ‘Nope‘, then ‘My Heart Is A Graveyard’, the first song Nicole ever wrote, reworked, improved and now one of the band’s favourites. It was a euphoric moment both on -stage and off, and by the closing chords everyone looked wrecked.
This is a hardworking band who love the road. A few days off from a gruelling touring schedule in August gave them time to record the next album, due in February, and that means another round of dates. When those come, get your tickets fast.
The Darts:
Nicole Laurenne – organ, vocals
Becca Davidson – guitar, vocals
Lindsay Scarey – bass, vocals
Heather Thomas – drums, vocals
The Darts setlist:
‘Apocalypse’ (from 2026 ‘Halloween Love Songs’ album)
‘Zombies On The Metro’ (from 2026 ‘Halloween Love Songs’ album)
‘Vampires In Love’ (from 2026 ‘Halloween Love Songs’ album)
‘Up In My Soul’ (from 2026 ‘Halloween Love Songs’ album)
‘Late Drive’ (from 2026 ‘Halloween Love Songs’ album)
‘The Devil Made Me Do It’ (from 2026 ‘Halloween Love Songs’ album)
‘Darkness’ (from 2026 ‘Halloween Love Songs’ album)
‘Punk Rock Girl’ (unreleased)
‘Hanging By A Thread’ (unreleased)
‘Désoléé’ (unreleased)
‘Midnight Creep’ (from 2026 ‘Halloween Love Songs’ album)
‘No Love’ (unreleased)
‘Nope’ (unreleased)
‘My Heart Is A Graveyard’ (from 2017 ‘The Darts EP II’ EP)
Mudlow
Brighton three-piece Mudlow opened the night with swamp-blues of the grittiest order. Tobias Mudlow sings in a raw, deep growl that sounds like it crawled out of some supernatural Deep South backwater, over dirty guitar, throbbing riffs and an overall sense of gothic, cinematic gloom. They can clearly play tight and clean, but they keep it lo-fi and scuzzy on purpose.
‘Drunken Turkey‘ opens proceedings, and you know where you are within a bar. Through ‘So Long Lee’, ‘Codename: Toad’ and ‘Lower Than Mud‘ the guitar flips between real skill and gleeful filth, and ‘Further Down The Road‘ and ‘Red Rock’ keep the pressure on before ‘Zac‘ draws the set to a close.
This was a confident show from a band happy to keep it filthy, and definitely the right warm-up for the night: swamp first, then the horror show.
A cracking night at Daltons.
Mudlow:
Tobias Mudlow – vocals, guitar
Paul Pascoe – bass
Matt Latcham – drums
Mulow setlist:
‘Drunken Turkey’ (from 2018 ‘Waiting For the Tide To Rise’ album)
‘So Long Lee’ (from 2018 ‘Waiting For the Tide To Rise’ album)
‘Codename: Toad’ (from 2018 ‘Waiting For the Tide To Rise’ album)
‘Lower Than Mud’ (from 2022 ‘Bad Turn’ album)
‘Further Down The Road’ (from 2022 ‘Bad Turn’ album)
‘Red Rock’ (from 2022 ‘Bad Turn’ album)
‘Zac’ (from 2004 ‘Welcome to Mudlow Country’ album)
