‘VARIOUS ARTISTS’ – GNARWAL FEST, GREEN DOOR STORE, BRIGHTON 11-12.10.25
On 2nd September it was announced that there would be a brand new two-day festival going under the banner of ‘Gnarwal Fest’ happening at the Green Door Store in Brighton on Saturday 11th & Sunday 12th October. I had wondered whether this was a rebranding of their popular annual ‘234 Fest’, but then that too was announced just a few days in advance of the actual event. That’s now been and gone (Reviews HERE and HERE) and so we are being treated to a second two day festival in celebration of the unique and diverse Independent Music that is around at the moment.
‘Gnarwal Fest’ is the brainchild of Luke and Angel who are respectively Independent Brighton promoters Gnarly Marmalade & WhattaWally. They joined forces to curate the brand-new music festival which features no less than 19 diverse artists spanning across genres from Hardcore, Jazz, Hip-Hop, Shoegaze and beyond. Just like a majority of the sets at The Great Escape, virtually all of the ‘Gnarwal Fest’ acts have been allocated a 30 hour taster set, and in order to get them all in each day, one act is allocated the coveted Bar Set so that music fans can in essence witness three bands in a row without any changeover delays. There was on-site catering advertised, but sadly this did not come to fruition, and so hungry bellies had to whizz to any nearby food establishments in order to grab what they could, and thus ensure that they didn’t miss any of the 19 acts.
So without further ado, let’s get down to reviewing. The 9 acts on Saturday are reviewed first and then the 10 acts on Sunday. Work was split amongst various team-members that were attending.
SATURDAY 11TH OCTOBER:
HIGHDRIVE (14:30-15:00)
To kick off proceedings at the first ever Gnarwal Festival, we were treated to a 26 minute, 6 song set from Brighton based five piece Highdrive and boy what an opener this was. The band are guitar heavy and when I say heavy I mean a mega four guitars in the mix. The line up comprises of Lucas Leitch (lead vocals, guitar), Eva Jaksi (on a 5 string bass, backing vocals), Bella Palanques (guitar), Felix Cleeve (guitar) and Billy Houghton (drums). The first song ‘Cherry’ set the tone and started with a long and full blooded instrumental section, those blazing guitars worked really well with Lucas’s soft vocals, something that took me by surprise considering how loud the rest of the music is. His vocals really add a calmness and ethereal vibe giving songs such as ‘Swan’ quite a Pink Floyd feel to them. Guitarist Bella hugely added to that kneeling down and twisting and turning the knobs on her bank of pedals creating all kinds of crazy noise. However, on songs such as ‘Tie Me Down’ & ‘Emetophobia’ the guitars really ramped up as did Lucas’s vocal delivery, reminding me at times of Kurt Cobain of Nirvana. The drumming from Billy was phenomenal, really solid and at times in the later songs of the set incredibly fast. The set closer ‘Passing By’ saw Lucas put down the guitar and take up the Tambourine. To say I was impressed by this band would be an understatement, beautiful bass lines from Eva, and heart melting guitar from Felix and Bella, this is most certainly going to be a band I’m going to seek out to see again.
(Ben ’Jerry’ Robinson)
SWALLOWTAIL (15:30-16:00)
Now the next band on the line up are a band I’ve been wanting to see for a while, lots of friends and have been raving about them, telling me they will be right up my street and do you know what, they were correct! Swallowtail are a four piece Brighton based band who I believe have had some recent personnel changes, however I am none the wiser having never seen them, so I have no basis for comparison, but what I heard and saw today blew me away. The line-up is Lucy Darke (vocals, guitar), Caleb Ryde (guitar), Drew Vickerstaff (drums) and Bella Sofia (bass). This utterly captivating, 28 minute, seven song set took in the songs ‘Thin’, ‘The Bathe’, ‘Drench’, ‘Jitter’, ‘Loose End’, ‘Squeel’ and ‘Time Sig’. Their music has quite the eerie vibe going, however it does have plenty of overtones of beautiful shoegaze, all brought together with Lucy’s beautiful angelic vocals. During numbers various such as ‘Thin’ & ‘Loose Ends’ guitarist Caleb used a violin bow to play his guitar, by the end it was starting to look a little shredded, but wow what a noise he makes, if I was not seeing the band play in front of me with my own eyes, I would have thought there were way more guitars in the mix, the band make a huge noise. Long slow bass lines from Bella and a powerhouse of full on drumming and crashing cymbals from Drew were magic. Those drumming skills were further demonstrated and really felt during ‘Jitter’ which had an ultra-fast dance like drum beat. Caleb’s violin bow was back out of the set closer ‘Time Sig’ an amazing song. This set had it all for me; the crowd were clearly loving it as heads nodded in unison. It was still so early in the day, but what a treat, could this be a new favourite band for me!
(Ben ‘Jerry’ Robinson)
NEL BLU (16:30-17:00)
Nel Blu are a completely new band on me and I could find nothing out there online with regards to them, but they have certainly been playing the Brighton scene for the past year. They are described on the line up as “Mathy goodness, Wonky, noisy, a bit emo, some spoken word, some riffs, some jangle, some shouting, lot of time signatures, banging dance moves. Nel Blu means into the blue in Italian innit”. They sound interesting! The Brighton based four piece are made up with Ben (vocals), Luke (guitar), Chris (bass) and Scott (drums). Luke actually was one of the duo that have curated and put on the festival this weekend, no rest for the wicked. The 28 minute six song set took in these working titled songs ‘11 Song’, ‘Imperialism’, ‘Slow Song’, ‘5/4’ ‘New One’, and ‘Scott’s Song’. Vocalist Ben made it clear he would not give out the working name for the new one as its bad luck. The musical style was very true to the above description to be fair, quite mixed, Ben often giving quite an angst-like stage performance visually and vocally. Their style was quite the contrast to the first two bands that had preceded them today, so was a bit of a shock to my system, but they did very much grow on me and the crowd had certainly come in for them. Generally the tempo of the songs is quite slow and much of the crowd including myself were swaying along. During one number, Luke delivered some rap-like vocals and another saw a young lady dressed all in black come up on stage and deliver some softly spoken poetic lyrics which added to the mystic. The band have nothing out musically as of yet, but are hoping to get something recorded in a studio in December. Nel Blu are an interesting band, who I very much look forward to seeing how they develop.
(Ben ‘Jerry’ Robinson)
MIREPOIX (17:30-18:00)
The first of the bands that I’m reviewing today are Mirepoix, who according to their social media are a “grunge shoegaze fusion from Brighton”. As they take to the Green Door Store stage I note a few familiar faces in their lineup, primarily vocalist/guitarist Angel Harrington, who is one of the two co-founders of ‘Gnarwal Fest’, but also I recognise Natasha Flynn on viola, as well as bassist Gareth Bennett-Alan, as all three played at last year’s ‘234 Fest’ under the band’s original name of Riff Raff (Review HERE). The remaining two members of Mirepoix are Elliott Scambler on drums, plus Louis Tong on guitar, and they too were in Riff Raff. So clearly it’s the same band as last year, but under a new banner, probably due to there being at least 3 other acts with the same name. Tonight we are served a half dozen tunes commencing with ‘Juice’ for which initially the vocals are freestyle jam session vibe but soon more on to a powerful wailing tone. Suffice to say this track went down well with the punters. Tune two ‘Guilt Off EP’ had a rocky jazz vibe going on, and this grew in its intensity. There were some notable bass notes and speedy drums for ‘Try To Fly’, after which Angel dons a guitar for ‘Miserable’, thus adding to the rocky vibe and the viola adds a new dimension to the track and it feels as if we are being told a story by the lyrics as well. The penultimate offering was ‘Sonder’ which saw the band remaining in harmony, before signing off with ‘A Dress That Hardly Fits’, which is a more straightforward shoegaze strum affair to begin with and then the beat changes and with the drums and echoing guitar leading the way, although this too changes direction. In summary, this was a set that kept us guessing what was going to happen next, but the highlight being the outstanding vocal display.
(Nick Linazasoro)
RAGDOLL (18:30-19:00)
Next up are Tamblyn Sturgess on vocals plus guitar, along with Freddie Haggar on drums, who collectively are the rather unique and noisy Ragdoll. An outfit I have seen as recently as 12th August when they were supporting Bathing Suits at The Rossi Bar. Prior to this I caught them at The Hope & Ruin’s 10th Birthday bash on 15th February this year, and before that in April 2024, which was also at the same venue, where they supporting Cowboyy. So this teatime I knew what I was letting myself in for. I have previously spoken with Tamblyn, who is a nice person, but Ragdoll’s jaunty rock rhythms in a jam session delivery, isn’t offering me anything new this time around. Throughout the set Freddie gazes across at Tamblyn in order to gauge where the song is going to go next. He offers skippy jazz style drumbeats on occasions, whereas Tamblyn often delivers the vocals in a wailing wounded animal style and also screams out the words some distance away from the microphone. If I didn’t know better, I would guess that they are making it up, but a majority of today’s set sounds very familiar. For yours truly, they are a challenging listen, although the punters present seem to like them. Ragdoll sounds a pleasant enough name and conjures up thoughts of Holly Hobbie and Rosie & Jim, but they might just consider changing their name to Ear Torture!
(Nick Linazasoro)
HOW LONG YOU BEEN DRIVING (19:00-19:30)
Hot off the back of Ragdoll, we have today’s sole Bar Set, which has been awarded to How Long You Been Driving, an act who we last reviewed at the end of September for the aforementioned ‘234 Fest’ here at the Green Door Store. One of my colleagues was reviewing them that time around, and to be honest my review and her review couldn’t get any further apart if you tried. If you want some of your fans for go absolutely berserk and not give a flying f*ck about anyone around them, then you’ve arrived at the right place. Some of these boys and girls make psychobilly fans look like they are watching Taylor Swift! How Long You Been Driving are a quartet comprising vocals, guitar, bass, drums with ever present cowbell and their sound is at the edge of music as we know it. I blame Extreme Noise Terror, but them singing along with The KLF was hilarious, but watching How Long You Been Driving from my lofty position of safety (coward!), they do bring a smile to my face in a WTF kinda way. I felt numb at the end of their full on in-yer-face set, but then I guess that was their whole point, but I will personally be giving them a swerve in the future!
linktr.ee/howlongyoubeendriving
(Nick Linazasoro)
CARNE (19:30-20:00)
The baton immediately passes over to alternative rockers Carne – which is pronounced Car-nay and stylised as CARNE – who are playing in the usual music room. We literally reviewed the band a mere 9 days ago, when they were on the bill with Liam Gallagher’s sons band Villanelle (Review HERE). Carne comprise Carmen Mellino on lead vocals/rhythm guitar, Milo Hill on lead guitar/backing vocals, Emia Demir on bass guitar and former Monakis stixman Joe McTaggart on drums. A majority of tonight’s set is unreleased material and a slight reworking from a few days ago. They kick off with one of these, the rockin’ ‘Helen’, which is swiftly followed by ‘Peeling Hand’ and then the changing paced ‘Becoming Red’, which commences with Carmen singing solo and then it bursts into life as the remaining trio join in, including plenty of cymbal action from Joe for the slower sections. There’s another tune with some notably rumbly bass guitar action, and then it’s the turn of “A new song” which is ‘Crayons And Nails’ which lures you into a false sense of security with its quiet start and central section, but it’s full on at other times. They sign off with their two 2025 single releases, these being the full on rock number ‘J.U.M (Jumped Up Murder)’, which segues straight into ‘Vast’ with its jaunty beat. Overall, I’d say it’s been a relatively solid performance.
(Nick Linazasoro)
BATHING SUITS (20:30-21:00)
It’s now the turn of the act I got most excited about, when spying the list of participating ‘Gnarwal Fest’ acts, namely Leeds based electro-noise sensations Bathing Suits, who I previously encountered at their debut Brighton performance which was as headliners The Rossi Bar on 12th August (Review HERE). They are the unlikely pairing of Freyja Blevins on vocals and drum machine, Elise Hughes on bass, George Dickinson on guitar, and Alex Mulholland also on guitar. If I was a concert promoter, then I would certainly be putting on a night of wonderfully sleazy and risque electronic music acts made up of Lynks, Bathing Suits, Francis Pig and Vascha – Come on promoters, someone make it happen! Thus far Bathing Suits have only released one 4 track cassette titled ‘Lousy Havoc’ / ‘Relay’ which dropped in February and followed this with their ‘I Can Be A Freak’ single which came out in August. These tracks get an outing tonight as well as a trio of yet to be released tunes. Why do I like them so much? Well any act that sounds not far off Fat Dog, Sextile, Sheep On Drugs, Scooter and the like are just fine by me! It’s the Elektron Drum Machine & Sampler that has worked its way into my mind and my body and Freyja uses this in abundance. The set begins with a wall of noise thrash in order to call the punters into the room and then it’s a booming keys beat and screechy guitars of ‘Relay’ that sets the performance off. This is followed by ‘Freak’ with its often repeated title and booming dance beat. There’s an EBM Benny Banassi ‘Satisfaction’ vibe on ‘Weight’ as Freyja’s long hair is thrashed around. The band are working closely as a unit as they unfold ‘Swan’, and then it’s the turn of ‘Lousy Havoc’ where Freyja comes and joins the punters for a dance. They sign off with their pièce de résistance, the lengthy hypnotic ‘Lack Empathy’ with its ‘Blue Monday’ style booming beats. There’s much writhing around on the stage floor by Freyja as the band seriously wig on out. Bathing Suits have knocked the ball right out of the park and are the band of the festival for yours truly by a country mile!
(Nick Linazasoro)
THISTLE (21:30-22:15)
Rounding off day one of ‘Gnarwal Fest’ are Northampton based trio Thistle, (which is stylized as thistle.), who we last reviewed as part of the Hidden Herd new music event at The Hope & Ruin on 18th June (Review HERE). The unit got it together in 2023 and comprises Cameron Godfrey on lead vocals and guitar, Lewis O’Grady on drums and Judwyn Rushton on bass. They are rather fond of DIIV and Nirvana and they themselves have an American take on the shoegaze meets grunge sound, which I’d say is heading towards the American rock of bands just like Weezer. We are informed that they have driven down from Manchester in order to play for us, but they admitted that they didn’t actually write a setlist, and so the tunes were decided on stage, which does seem rather lackadaisical, but then I guess it keeps the lads on their toes. The first thing I notice is their deadly cymbal, and if anyone goes slamming into that, a deep cut will result. Their first three tunes ambled along, but they suddenly upped their game with the arrival of the fourth track which was faster and in grunge territory. Track five was a rapid track as well, and tune six was like a speedy Green Day, and this went down the best thus far with the punters. The longer they played the better they got, and none of their tunes outstayed their welcome. The set concluded with Judwyn hoisting his bass above his head so that the strings were rubbing up and down against the universal steel beam, which is something I don’t recall having ever seen before.
(Nick Linazasoro)
SUNDAY 12TH OCTOBER:
MAX ADRIAAN (14:00-14:30)
Kicking off things on Sunday is Max Adriaan. Max graduated from BIMM and is Brighton based, he and the band are completely new to me, I know today the music is going to be leaning in a totally different direction to Saturday’s lineup and Max’s music is described as RnB Hip-hop Jazz, so I am all ears. At 2pm the 5 musicians have taken their place on stage waiting for the nod to hit go, I spy in the band we have Matt (Squire P Bass), Alex (Fender Stratocaster Guitar), Lucas (Drum) and unknown (Arturia Keylab 88 MKII Keys). The 30 minute eight song set started off with ‘Fall Out’ moving straight into ‘Let Yourself Be Free’, both of these were super smooth morning vibes, nice crowd awakeners, bringing us gently into the day’s music journey. I had maybe been expecting more hip hop, but both numbers and the bulk of the set were sung in the traditional sense. Following Max’s shout out to Luke and Angel (the event organisers). Things moved along with the slower ‘Why Do I Feel Like This’. Max joked he “feels like he is still waking up after such a few busy days” as we were treated to a couple of brand new songs, the first of which was ‘Oblivion’, this one had more of a fast tempo and we were told it was the first time it had been played. Max then asked Alex for his guitar and Alex said he was going to head to the bar for a beer which caused a chuckle through the growing crowd. Max played a solo intro on the guitar at the start of ‘I’ve Made A Mess Again’ before the band joined in, again this was a really chilled song, the organ/keys really added to the sound and vibe. With Alex now back on stage we were given ‘Hard Work’, Max popped on his shades and delivered this song in a far more RnB Hip Hop style. I really enjoyed this one; it added a real different flavour and string to Max’s bow. The final songs were ‘Down The Drain’ & ‘Fair Share’ ; these had quite irregular beats from the drummer and were a lot more lively, a powerful finisher. I really enjoyed Max Adriaan’s set, it was a super chilled and jazzy start to the day. He has some music already out there on Spotify, so if you want to get yourself in the mood for a good day, go check it out.
(Ben ‘Jerry’ Robinson)
JED (15:00-15:30)
Jed are a six piece Brighton based band I was lucky enough to have caught earlier this year at the ‘Homegrown Festival’ and they are a strong contender for my year end top 5 list. I’ve not been able to catch them since then, so they were the main reason I came back this morning to see what’s new. Jed introduced himself thanking everyone for coming down so early despite the hangovers encouraging us to all start again and “make a new hangover”. JED is the vocalist, the band is made up of Poppy (vocals), Sam (guitar), Olly (drums), Tommy (bass) and Felix (Roland Go Piano). Today we were treated to a seven song, 32 minute set that started with ‘Bumped Into The Moon’, an excellent opener that really got the crowd going. This was followed by ‘I’ll Be There’, a love song JED suggested he perhaps wrote too early in a relationship, this one was real slow. The next one was about idiots in pubs and was called ‘He Started It’, it was a brand new single, released today! A great upbeat funky song, with an awesome guitar riff throughout. Up next came ‘Sleepless City’, this was a brand new song and only the second time it’s been played live, again it had Sam giving us a really funky guitar riff and closed with him doing a fine guitar solo. ‘Heavy Eyelids’ a song written at work whilst in an enjoyable job, you could see the band really were feeling the vibe at this point in the set, lots of smiles and closed eyes between them, great to see. The final two songs were very lively and upbeat, ‘COME&GO’ and ‘Losing Patience’. That last one is an earworm and will have you singing it over and over again, one that JED had the crowd join in with. JED is the perfect fusion of hip hop and jazz, it’s really funky, makes you want to dance, the band are so tight, they are a delight to watch and hear. JED has great crowd interaction with stories and tales in-between songs, smooth bass, key and guitar, sublime drums and Poppy’s soft vocal chorus and tag teaming with JED meld it to perfection. They are still a contender for my list. JED is playing a Sofar Sounds show on the 5th of December at Fabrica and also putting on a show on the 15th of November there doing some poetry but not any music.
(Ben ‘Jerry’ Robinson)
FLAVOURS (16:00-16:30)
Flavours are a band that first caught my attention at the ‘Homegrown Festival’ earlier this year. I enjoyed that so I am making sure I am staying around for seconds before my mad dash to the train station. Gnarwal’s description of the band goes as follows; “Psych gods from the B town. They’ll take you straight to the desert for a sun soaked shroomy road trip. Big riffs, sexy solos, chunky drums, fuzzymcfuzzface, Stylish as f*ck”. Now if that doesn’t get you excited, I don’t know what will. Flavours are a Brighton based four piece band comprised of Sam Turner (vocals & Fender Jazzmaster guitar), Ben Archibald (vocals and guitar), Jude Allenby (Fender Mustang bass and vocals) and Martin Slade Jnr (drums). The seven song, 30 minute set took in ‘Some Dream’, ‘Fills My Mind’, ‘Walking Between Raindrops’, ‘And On That Day’, ‘Every Sun’, ‘So Far Behind’ and ‘Watching Bridges Burn’. The vibe and feel of the band is gorgeous Psych rock, whilst you will taste the 70s in their sound, it’s as fresh as can be. Those soothing vocals were mainly from Sam throughout the set, however on ‘Fills My Mind’, Ben took over duty. One song of note was ‘Walking Between Raindrops’ which saw some mad skills drumming from Martin, such a full sound came from the band on this, I really loved it. I should also mention that ‘And On That Day’ had only been written that very morning and excellent it was too, you can’t get any fresher. For ‘Every Son’ Jude took over vocal duties and lead guitar he explained as he wrote it and had not had time to teach the rest of the band. I recognised Jude from Had Sandy, but only just twigged he is also the singer for How Long You Been Driving! And boy is there quite some difference in singing style today. Flavours really are quite some band, quite the contrast to the first two bands that had played today, my love for them has only grown, real meaty full bloodied psych, and I love it.
(Ben ‘Jerry’ Robinson)
AMBER BURGOYNE (17:00-17:30)
It’s just one review for me today and it looks as though I’ve fallen on my feet as I get to grips with Amber Burgoyne who I haven’t seen before. It came as a real surprise that Amber has already dropped no less than 8 singles, before releasing her debut 5-track EP titled ‘Stages’ this year. This afternoon Amber is joined by a handful of players who take care of keyboards and laptop, saxophone, drums and backing vocals, guitar, and bass. Their sound is way outside of my personal taste, but I can certainly spot pure class and Amber has it by the bucket load. She offers up silky sweet vocals for a lazy Sunday afternoon session. It’s very jazz blues with a strong hint of Any Winehouse meets Astrud Gilberto of ‘The Girl from Ipanema’ fame. Amber’s vocal delivery is delivered in an Americanised way and she would be absolutely perfect for Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club as well as appearing on the main stage of ‘Love Supreme’ festival, which takes place annually at Glynde near Lewes. Song two this afternoon is ‘Different Kind Of Lonely’ from the EP which has a lounge lizard vibe with its sax parts and benefits from a solid vocal delivery. For tune three Jack is introduced as the drummer and he uses brushes instead of drumsticks in order to get that jazzy vibe. The beat increases for tune four and the saxophone and drums are a highlight on this. Amber informs us that tunes five and six are “a bit sad”, hence its slower dreamy music and Polly is introduced as the sax player, and a bloody great one at that! They then decide to play their take on Erykah Badu’s ‘On & On’ which swung along nicely. The set concluded with her 2021 ‘Move With Me’ single with its backing track and this was by far their funkiest tune, and Scott on bass was namechecked and I think it might have been Taylor on keys. Amber is next in action at a ‘Halloween showcase’ held at The Folklore Rooms on Friday 24th October 2025 with Riley Viljoen also on the bill. I would even go as far to suggest that Amber is just as good as Amy Winehouse was.
(Nick Linazasoro)
DEAFHAÜS (18:00-18:30)
‘Deafhaüs’ – a Manchester based, global groove funk-adjacent 6 Piece – took to the stage, the lead singer adorned with a Palestinian flag. A huge number of the tracks had equal amounts of sax taking the lead as there were vocals, and the first track ‘Ten Cent Man’ was no exception. They have this incredibly smooth quality to their songs, yet so inextricably groovy with their bassline reminiscent of Stevie Wonder. The drummer was phenomenal – consistently throwing out intricate hi-hat patterns which beautifully contrasted to the lead singers soft, falsetto vocal lines. Their second tune ‘Tools,’ started off with bongo and bass and sounded like there may be a touch of Windmill scene bands like ‘Black Country New Road’ in their influences. They manage to create very textural sounds through their synth lines and extra percussive elements with elements like chimes thrown into the mix. Several of their tracks sounded like they had a strong Latin influence and the lead singer at one point managed to make his guitar sound akin to a sitar. ‘Coconut Crab’, their first public release, had the lead guitarist creating textural noise with feedback on a delay implementing this into the lead lines and hooks throughout the song. Their combination of groove and fuzzy melodies was a treat to behold, and their sound was familiar yet unlike anything else I could pin down exactly.
(Alison Lawrence)
NO TRIXX (19:00-19:30)
‘No Trixx’, are a fusion of soul, funk, drum and bass, rock and R&B hailing from London. My immediate impression was that the bassist was absolutely inspired by the tone of Thundercat, with autowah’s, chorus, and all other manner of unexpected effects. This band embodied a love for music and were an incredible display of talent. Another 6-piece – this one with drums accompanied by bass, guitar, keys, rapping and a violinist. The combination of all these sounds creates such a diverse and sophisticated soundscape. The drummer in particular felt like they were communicating with the same musical language as Morgan Simpson (Black Midi). After the second track – though I expected another tune – they asked, “How do you feel about pigeons, good or bad?”, before introducing the rapper who had joined them for the first tune as ‘Lippy’ and who would continue to perform with them on the majority of their songs. These musicians could be considered virtuosic at times with a lot of the guitar licks sharing strong DNA with progressive math rock, and at other times noise rock. Their very apparent avant-garde nature combined with their experimental, intricate musicianship and writing is breath-taking and they are absolutely worth seeing if you can catch them.
(Alison Lawrence)
BIG TRIO (19:30-20:00)
Big Trio are a nu-jazz sounding 4-piece (despite their name) consisting of bass, guitar, piano, and drums set up in the corner of the bar rather than the expected Green Door stage. This set was very interesting, and I was trying to figure out whether it was completely planned, or if each song was improvised on the night. Either way, the musicianship was incredible, pulling from different influences and flowing between timings and feel constantly with moments for each member to shine. I heard a strong influence of bands like Gogopenguin and Tigran Hamasyan with unusual time signatures and a playfulness in switching keys and rhythms. I also noticed an almost lofi quality to them – despite their chaotic nature instrumentally – but the outcome was still something incredibly chill and easy to listen to. They had the capacity to switch effortlessly between refined jazz sensibilities, to chill breaks in the R&B realm even evocative of bands like hiatus kaiyote at times. Big Trio were an unexpected treat and I hope to see them around Brighton again sometime soon, maybe at one of their weekly performances at the ‘Green Dragon’.
www.instagram.com/bigtriomusic
(Alison Lawrence)
KOTOA (20:00-20:30)
Kotoa are a five piece Afro-dub band from Brixton, comprising Laurie Campling on drums, Frank Black (no, not that one) on bass, Sam Hillier on keyboards, Memphis Koloi on guitar and vocals, and Maia Avery on saxophone and vocals. The ‘Afro-dub’ tag that they’ve given themselves doesn’t quite do them justice. As well as the undeniable dub reggae influences, there is also a considerable jazz influence as well. Frank Black has a five string bass, which I always find impressive for some reason. Opener ‘Another Day Will Come’ features some interesting echo-plexed guitar, and nice harmonies between Memphis and Maia. ‘I Am’ is the band’s latest single and has a really quite wonderful groove, not to mention a sweet guitar solo. ‘Thieves And Scammers’ is more at the reggae end of things, and is followed by ‘Smoke’, which is a new song. This has a nice sinewy bass line and some entrancing wah-wah guitar. Maia is on lead vocals and also delivers a cracking sax solo. ‘Earthwise’ is the title track of their new EP, and includes an awesome keyboard solo from Sam. ‘Charge It’ is the most danceable song Kotoa play and is a great choice to close the set with. Kotoa are a most interesting band and I for one will be looking out for them. They play Coldharbour Blue in London on 23rd October.
(Mark Kelly)
MATILDA BOND (21:00-21:30)
Matilda Bond is not only the name of the Brighton based singer currently onstage, but also of the five piece musical collective that she fronts. Opener ‘TTM’ is smooth jazz with something of the feel of Sade. Matilda certainly has the voice to justify the comparison. The second song is a new song, and is indeed listed on the setlist as such! It has a real supper club feel, although it does perk a bit towards the end. ‘Call It Rain’ was a single in 2021 and again, is very smooth. The musicianship is ace, but I really wish the band would cut loose in some way. They seem very restrained. ‘After’ is a “chiller track”. It’s very pleasant, and has more musical character than anything else played so far. It has a nice melodic bass line and also a keyboard solo. ‘Impatient’ has a lovely finger-picked guitar intro and the drumming is a little more powerful. In general there is a little more spark to this song, which is something that has been lacking thus far. Set closer ‘May’ is also a little more pokey. However, the material that I’ve heard tonight does veer somewhat towards the bland. I could easily see this band playing on a cruise liner. I could also see Matilda Bond breaking into the mainstream. However, they’re in grave danger of making background music for dinner parties, which, considering Matilda’s voice and the sheer scale of the musical talent on display tonight, would be rather a shame. I’m sure that Matilda and the band could be making music that is far more artistically satisfying. However, their music does have undeniable commercial potential. I’m sure in a few years’ time when Matilda is doing an arena tour, she’ll return to this review and smile.
(Mark Kelly)
TANHAI COLLECTIVE (22:00-22:45)
Tanhai Collective are a London based instrumental six piece comprising Walter Feeney on trumpet, Tom McCann on saxophone, Billy Hare on keyboards, Louis Hudd on guitar, Sravudh Tanhai on bass, and Ben Harper on drums. The band deserve their headlining slot not just because they have two albums under their belt, but because they are genuinely awesome! Tonight’s set is a parade of highlights, and I shall try to illustrate some of them. Opener ‘Blue Note’ features some trumpet from Walter Feeney which is reminiscent of Miles Davis in his prime. I kid you not. It also includes some unexpected and unusual chord sequences, lots of light and shade, and the trumpet and saxophone harmonising at the close. The interestingly titled ‘Flies In The Freezer’ starts with a cool sax intro from Tom McCann, whilst the rest of the band manage to sound like waves crashing on the shore. I have absolutely no idea how they achieve this. There’s some wonderful interplay between Billy Hare on the keyboards and Walter on the trumpet. Then Tom on the sax plays the coda. This really is excellent stuff. I can’t help but smile. In fact, I suspect that I’m grinning like an idiot! On ‘Play Field’ the trumpet and sax harmonise on a staccato intro, then become more fulsome. Sravudh Tanhai’s bass is wonderfully fluid, whilst the sax and trumpet swap solos. Put bluntly, this is bloody exciting music! ‘Grooves 1’ is off their latest EP. It has a funky beginning, a sax and trumpet duet, a keyboard solo and an awesome bass line. What more could you possibly want? There’s absolutely nothing to fault here. ‘Highly Vibrational’ is a new song. The bass is wonderfully elastic. I suspect that Sravudh has been listening to Bootsy Collins, or Jaco Pastorius perhaps. Yep – he’s that good! ‘Junction’ has a keyboard and bass intro, followed by a trumpet solo, and then a sax solo. The keyboards go through a wah-wah pedal. This is truly wonderful stuff. I wish that the Tanhai Collective could play all night! Sadly they can’t, this being a Sunday and all. However dear readers, there are opportunities to see this band live! They play at Ronnie Scott’s on 25th October, and the Fox and Firkin in Lewisham on 11th December. You know what to do.
(Mark Kelly)
