SUNDAY (1994) + BINO BAMES – GREEN DOOR STORE, BRIGHTON 19.11.25
On this super cold evening we are about to have our senses warmed through with two superbly talented acts who I am sure are both destined for great things…read all about it!
Sunday (1994) 21:00 – 22:20
Back in May, Sunday (1994) were earmarked by me as one of my must see bands at The Great Escape, they played twice and I managed to catch one of those sets on the big stage at the beach. It was a set I very much enjoyed, but it was one that made me think it’s going to be really hard in the future to catch this band at small venues. Roll on a few months and I could not believe my luck when the announcement of a 12 date UK winter tour came through and it was taking in a very intimate show here at the Green Door Store. As you can imagine my ticket was purchased instantly and I’m glad I did as most dates of the tour sold out.
So who are Sunday (1994), they are a dream pop band based in Los Angeles consisting of Californian vocalist Paige Turner and guitarist Lee Newell from Slough. They actually met way back in 2014 and started out writing songs for other artists and adverts, but during the lockdown, they started the process of writing songs for themselves, thank heavens they did as we are now able to enjoy the fruits of their labour. The first of those fruits was their self-titled EP in 2024 and the second was their ‘Devotion’ EP which came out in May this year, both incredibly solid dream pop long play EPs.
So on this evening, at 9pm the lights dimmed and a quick torch flash from someone on stage signaled to start proceedings as a quote from the move ‘Carrie’ (1976) rang out over the speakers “Take off that dress, we’ll burn it together and pray for forgiveness”, this was followed by the very atmospheric ‘Twin Peaks’ theme by Angelo Badalamenti as three of the band made their way out, got tooled up with their instruments and started to play the introduction to ‘Our Troubles’, then came vocalist Paige Turner making her way from the wings to the front and centre of the stage, “Brighton how are we feeling?” she called out whilst moving on into the number. The sound is lovely pulsing basslines, Lee’s chiming guitars and Paige’s amazing souring voice.
In an interlude Paige addressed the crowd “Alright Brighton? Can you sing this bit with me?”, the crowd whooped in reply, “Come on Brighton that doesn’t sound very convincing, can you do it? sing it” she ordered us all, and we did.
Paige was wearing her trademark white flowing dress and Lee in his suit jacket, looking a little like Buddy Holly with his slicked hair and glasses, a look they have both carried from the start and I feel is almost now expected from the audiences. It’s a great look, they look very professional and are embedding that recognisability.
But back to the music, songs in the set such as ‘Softly’ and ‘Devotion’ are so easy flowing, backing vocals from both bass player Christine and Lee really add to it all, I swayed along as many others were.
Before ‘Doomsday’ Paige asked us “How are we feeling tonight Brighton? It’s a very tight squeeze on the stage tonight!” she carried on jokingly gesturing to her legs and midriff which was eye level and about 30cm’s from the front rows faces, “I’m sorry you’re like exploring this area, I hope that’s okay”, everyone laughed as it was true, the front of stage sound wedges had been moved and the drum kit was quite far forward, leaving little room for Paige to move about. Normally I position myself at the front, but I think I chose wisely tonight to station myself at the side towards the back on one of the benches, I had a great view and probably better sound.
One thing I did notice was the band really seemed to have evolved since I saw them in May, a lot more confidence and cheeky crowd encouragement, before ‘Devotion’ Lee told us “You are going to need to clap for longer than that Brighton” making everyone give another big cheer and applause, it was that gentle needling us UK audiences sometimes need.
The band were ever keen to have the crowd involved, to join in, sing along, one such song was the brilliant ‘TV Car Chase’ from the 2024 self-titled EP. This had both Lee and Paige getting everyone to sing the lyrics “My head is in the oven oh my head, oh my head, oh my head”. Lee came forward to the centre, taping people along the front on the head. I really loved this song and that’s the beauty of their music, you really can sing along, the lyrics are very memorable, you pick them up quickly. “Okay, that’s better Brighton” quipped Paige, with Lee adding “They’re aaaaliiiive”.
‘Blonde’ came next, once again it had the band prompting the crowd for the line “that place is the shithole” which everyone sang in unison. I am pretty sure the majority of the crowd, much like me, have all bought the EPs and played them to death as they certainly knew the words.
Following ‘Stained Glass Window’ Paige asked us “You still feeling good?, I feel like you need to wake up a little bit, give us your energy” she turned to Lee “Do you think they’ve woken up enough”, he replied “I think so……just a little bit”, Paige continued “I think you can wake up a little bit more, I want you all to scream really loud for me” and everyone did before ‘Silver Ford’ a song were told is a happy ending and Paige’s favourite song.
Next came ‘The Loneliness Of The Long Flight Home’ and Paige referenced the weather “Are you still feeling good out there, I’m finally just warming up, I mean there is no dressing room, so we had to sit outside, so when we got on stage we were still defrosting”. Paige does have a point, there isn’t really anywhere for the artists to go before or after and the weather is super cold this evening. But we don’t need heaters in here, the Sunday (1994) sound brings its own warmth and energy, that fuzzy happy feeling, maybe I should get them to come and play at my house all winter, it’ll save me a fortune in heating bills.
Everyone was encouraged to get their phone lights out for ‘Rain’ and as obedient as ever, we all did. It was quite the sight and I think really touched the band.
The set is starting to draw to a close, after ‘Mascara’ Lee took some time out to talk to us and introduce the band “This is insane for us, we put our first song out only at the beginning of last year and already we get to share this experience with you, truthfully, I’m not making it up, but this is f*cking mad, but we do have a great band, the greatest band in the world in fact, we have the greatest bassist in the world all the way from Vermont, then New Jersey and now L.A, give it up for; on bass guitar; Christine, then on the drums we are honoured to have her here tonight, all the way from Monrovia, California, she really is the best drummer in the world, give it up for Geordie…she’s not from Newcastle, but she is Geordie! And then last but not least, dressed in white..as per, the voice of what my mum likes to call the new generation, my best friend Paige Turner” who then in turn curtsied and beckoned with her hand the cheers to go up and down. Paige then introduced Lee “He deserves the loudest cheer, mainly because the band would not exist without him, the production, this tour, the wonderful guitars, the humour, but more importantly because he is from Slough, so give a loud Brighton cheer for on guitar..Lee Newell” Lee joked “I didn’t mean to be from Slough, we can’t all be from Brighton alright, we can try, we can move here, anyway let’s play some music” We were treated to the more moody ‘Still Blue’ a brooding number with some heavier guitar spells.
Following the song it was Paige’s time to talk to us “Thank you, we want to say how much we appreciate this, since our first song we’ve toured the UK three times now and you’ve all shown up for us in the best way, this is kind of crazy and we pinch ourselves everyday, it has been a dream of ours for so long, so thank you for being here right now with us, we are so grateful, this is our last song ‘Picking Flowers’”. This one was from their 2025 EP and was a beautiful slow song, really showcasing Paige’s amazing voice, as she sang the lyrics, she held aloft a placard board with them on “Nothing Stays the Same” and then exited the stage, then followed by the rest of the band.
After lots of cheers and shouts for more the band returned to give us an encore of two of their earlier released songs ‘Blossom’ which had everyone joining in with the “La, la, La, La’s” and ‘You Got It’. ‘Tired Boy’ was the final tune of the night, their debut song and one that feels timeless, a solid gold classic for generations to come. When I first heard that on YouTube in 2024 I knew then I had to see them and hear it again this evening as the set closer truly was magic. It really makes you drift away and again had everyone singing along, the evening closed with the band all hugging each other and giving a bow.
This really felt like a special gig this evening, a sold out, really respectful crowd, no-one was chatting over the bands or between songs, the crowd warmed up as the evening progressed joining in more vocally with the songs, waving their arms, swaying and dancing. I loved looking down from my higher up standing position seeing happy faces singing back at the band. I think as mentioned before the band really have built up confidence and refinement since I last saw them, whilst Paige beckons and gestures to the crowd in her songs, this time she often interacted with both Christine and Lee, smiling and happy.
The music, the set, their style is very professional and you can tell they have worked very hard over time to make it so, it is very easy music and stage movements, crowd interaction that would work just as well on way bigger stages and venues. They are not a band looking to get by, they are aiming for the top and rightly so. The merch stand had an array of t-shirts, a beautiful signed poster which I now wish I’d bought, their EPs look the biz and sound fantastic. Musically, their very early songs had more of a shoegaze, dream pop vibe to them, whereas their new EP songs slightly leave that in subtle way, one thing for sure is Paige has the voice, the whole band have it going for them, I can’t wait for them to return in 2026 and the possible album coming that Paige let slip, I will miss seeing them play in small venues, those big stages await them.
Sunday (1994):
Paige Turner – vocals
Lee Newell – guitar
Christine – bass
Geordie – drums
Sunday (1994) setlist:
‘Our Troubles’ (from 2024 ‘Sunday (1994)’ EP)
‘Softly’ (from 2024 ‘Sunday (1994)’ EP)
‘Doomsday’ (from 2025 ‘Devotion’ EP)
‘Devotion’ (from 2025 ‘Devotion’ EP)
‘TV Car Chase’ (from 2024 ‘Sunday (1994)’ EP)
‘Blonde’ (from 2024 ‘Sunday (1994)’ EP)
‘Stained Glass Window’ (from 2024 ‘Sunday (1994)’ EP)
‘Silver Ford’ (from 2025 ‘Devotion’ EP)
‘The Loneliness Of The Long Flight Home’ (from 2024 ‘Sunday (1994)’ EP)
‘Rain’ (from 2025 ‘Devotion’ EP)
‘Mascara’ (from 2024 ‘Sunday (1994)’ EP)
‘Still Blue’ (from 2025 ‘Devotion’ EP)
‘Picking Flowers’ (from 2025 ‘Devotion’ EP)
(encore)
‘Blossom’ (from 2024 ‘Sunday (1994)’ EP)
‘Tired Boy’ (from 2024 ‘Sunday (1994)’ EP)
Bino Bames 20:00 – 20:30
Support comes tonight from Bino Bames, a young 20 year old chap, born and raised under the neon lights of Las Vegas, he is half Filipino half American, but after a spell of moving across America he is now currently living in the UK. His bio reads “Bino Bames channels the raw spirit of icons like Elliott Smith and Kurt Cobain into an unfiltered sound that’s entirely his own. A true DIY visionary, he plays multiple instruments, produces his demos, designs his visuals, and blurs music, art, and fashion”. It doesn’t surprise me in the least if he is involved with fashion, he is incredibly striking visually, if he is not a model, he certainly could be, he most definitely has the look of a rock star, that sort of Johnny Depp coolness. Oh to be young!
I’ve purposely not listened to any of Bino’s music in advance as I want this to be totally fresh experience this evening, however I did recognise him sitting behind me as everyone was filtering in, he was getting himself into the zone, eyes closed leaning against the wall with some ear pods in, perhaps washing away any pre-stage nerves, but it was not long until he was up smiling and heading towards the stage to strap on his guitar, ready for his 8pm start.
He introduced himself “How you guys all doing tonight? I’m Bino Bames and I’m going to play an acoustic set for you tonight, so thanks for joining me and letting me share these songs with you” and with that we’re straight into a 25 minute, 8 song hauntingly good set. Six of those songs were all from Bino’s brand new debut EP ‘Gather No Moss’, which is out today; the 19th November no less.
The first of those sung were ‘Let You Go’ and ‘Heavy Voices’, and to be brutally honest, these blew me away, utterly captivating. His vocal style reminded me of Placebo’s Brian Molko or perhaps Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins. After some guitar re-tuning and a slight false start, we were treated to the slow and gentle ‘Human Being’ and the emotionally charged ‘Isolated’. The songs throughout the set were all sung by Bino whilst he played his acoustic guitar, however he was not alone on stage, he was backed by musician Samson who gently played an electric guitar, this added so much more to the overall sound, creating lots of echoing atmospheric, perhaps shoegazey backing, all subtly done so Bino was always the central focus.
The set departed from the EP for an excellent stripped back cover of Soundgarden’s ‘Black Hole Sun’, quite a few camera phones came out for that one. Following another from the EP, ‘Nothings Real’, we had a second cover song, this time it was Brian Wilson’s ‘Caroline, No’. I’ve not actually heard the original, but very much enjoyed this version, it was very much sung from the heart.
The final song of the set was ‘Cocktail Princess’, his debut song release from March 2025, but also on the EP ‘Gather No Moss’ released today which Bino informed us. This was probably the liveliest tune of the set and a fine closer indeed. I don’t think Bino has played in Brighton before, so I’m not sure if any of the crowd were familiar with him, but I must say the audience was totally gripped. Aside from the obvious cheers and applause, it was total respect and attention given at all times. Bino is a very talented musician and these stripped back acoustic versions of his songs could be an EP in that format. They were that good, the actual versions released have plenty more sound and guitars, so I am going to be checking it out. He is one very much to watch, I’m intrigued to see how his music path develops, he has the look, the lyrics and that personable likable style, may he return to Brighton again soon.
Bino Bames:
Bino Bames – vocals and acoustic guitar
Samson – electric guitar
Bino Bames setlist:
‘Let You Go’ (from 2025 ‘Gather No Moss’ album)
‘Heavy Voices’ (from 2025 ‘Gather No Moss’ album)
‘Human Being’ (from 2025 ‘Gather No Moss’ album)
‘Isolated’ (from 2025 ‘Gather No Moss’ album)
‘Black Hole Sun’ (Soundgarden cover)
‘Nothings Real’ (from 2025 ‘Gather No Moss’ album)
‘Caroline, No’ (Brian Wilson cover)
‘Cocktail Princess’ (from 2025 ‘Gather No Moss’ album)
