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Big queues outside the Pressure Point? Must mean the return of Brighton's favourite psychedelic sons! The fact it's an Electric Soft Parade gig should be enough for most people but seeing as it's also free no doubt adds to the appeal a bit. Just a shame the beer wasn’t free as well! As a venue, the Pressure Point has a capacity of around 140 people, with a small stage that always looks very overcrowded with all the bands gear. It's also one of the rare venues with no backstage area so bands have to walk through the crowd the get to the stage. Which makes a nice change. The place is almost full already as Paul Steel and his band take to the stage and run through a half-hour set of sun kissed songs. Paul, who takes lead vocal duties and plays keyboards is joined by a highly talented guitarist and bassist whose backing vocals and harmonies really add to the summery feel of the songs, which recall the likes of The Shins and Hal. They proved to be very popular with the crowd and left the stage to plenty of cheers. Cue mass guitar feedback and walls of noise as it's time for local boys Turncoat, who play their own brand of dark yet witty progressive rock. The use of keyboards and synth effects gives another element to their heavy quiet / loud guitar sound and frontman Adrian really gets into the songs and stalks around the stage while coaxing new sounds from his guitar. When it comes to crowd interaction they’re not the best but they leave that to the music to speak for them. Whilst comparisons to the likes of Biffy Clyro and Fugazi are apparent, they’ve really forged their own sound and seem to be well liked by the local gig goers. By now the place is heaving in preparation of the Electric Soft Parade Whenever the brothers White and co. play their hometown of Brighton they’re always given a big reception and are hugely popular. Fresh from signing a new record deal with the people at Truck Records (after being dropped by BMG) and playing successful shows with other band Brakes, Tom and Alex are clearly happy yet also extremely jet lagged after flying in from New York less then 24 hours earlier. Ex Dodgy drummer Matt Priest seems right at home at the drum stool now and bassist Matt Twaites is his usual self, standing stage centre with Tom to his right and Alex left. With Tom now playing lead guitar and sharing vocals, the bands overall live sound is now somewhat heavier and fatter. They waste no time and kick straight into a great version of ‘Lose Yr Frown’ which as Alex says, “is a song from the record that got us dropped”. This was followed by a seemingly heavier ‘Biting the Soles of my Feet’ and ‘Things I've Done Before’. Tom's soon his usual self, joking with mates at the front, rocking out with his guitar as well as attempting to balance a bottle of Becks on his head. There’s no songs from the new EP played tonight due to the band not having any time to rehearse them, but there were other new songs played such as ‘Have You Ever Felt Like It's Too Late’, with it's chiming guitars and Tom and Alex sharing vocals. Other standout new one was the fast paced garage rocker ‘Life In The Back Seat’ as well as the psychedelic melodies of ‘Captain Of a Sinking Ship’ which was once again dedicated to George Bush. The best reception of the evening though was saved for two tracks from their debut record ‘Holes In the Wall’. Despite Alex forgetting some of the words, ‘Start Again’ still sounds just as good live as it always did. After this was a version of their first ever single ‘Silent To The Dark’, which was a much shorter, electric version than the 8 minutes it is on record. Alex apologised “for being crap” and said “one day we’ll play a gig and actually rehearse first”. Not that it matters, as even a fairly shabby Soft Parade gig is an enjoyable one. Final song of the night was another new one titled ‘If That’s The Case Then I Don’t Know’, which is a typical ESP sounding song with duel vocals and two impressive guitar parts. So despite lack of rehearsals and battling through jet lag it was still a storming set that just goes to show what a talented and original band Electric Soft Parade are. Fatcats at BMG Records... you silly silly people. Electric Soft Parade set: Another day, another gig, but this is Brighton Live week after all so make the most of it! Tonight I could have easily gone to see Good Morning Captain play at the Albert, but how could I turn down the chance to see the brilliant Actress Hands in a venue the size of the 90 capacity upstairs room of Polar Central. Formerly called The Lift before being taken over by the people of Polar Central, not a lot has really changed since its refurbishment. There’s still no stage or proper sound desk, the small bar still occupies one corner and there are a few tables and two sofas at the back. It's more like a small bar-room than a music venue but it has its own unique charm all the same. The first of the bands on tonight look like they should be tucked up in bed by now, all very hard trying and young looking. Called My Private Life, they come across as a very bad mix of Hot Hot Heat and Selfish C**t, complete with dodgy drum machine and preening and posing singer in eyeliner and high heels (yes it was a bloke). The female bassist is very glamorous, as is the guitarist although she spends more time puffing on her cigarette than actually playing any guitar. Anyone for songs about cross-dressers? Thought not. Luckily after only four songs their set is finished. Very strange. Next up is local duo The Self, who combine acoustic guitar and keyboards to create their music. Before forming the band, the keyboard player was a prolific poet, writing heartfelt prose about anything and everything. One thing for sure is whoevers idea it was to put these words to music deserves to be bought a pint! Unfortunately the small crowd didn’t seem all too impressed though and the majority weren’t paying them all that much attention, which is a shame as their melodic songs are well worth a listen, sounding something like Ben Folds jamming with Turin Brakes on a nice summers day complete with some great vocal harmonies. Lovely stuff. But now it's Actress Hands time, as they set their gear up and take to the stage (oops I mean floor). The sound's a bit distorted so it's sometimes hard to hear what singer / guitarist Matt Eaton is saying between songs, so for the most part they let the music do the talking. Tonight the band are playing as a four piece as their usual second guitarist Alex White is in New York playing with his other band Brakes Despite this the band are as rocking as ever with their clever key changes and spikey guitar pop sound proving to be just as catchy as before. They play a crashing version of ‘Half An Hour’ as early as the second song, which really grabs anyone’s attention who wasn’t already watching. This was followed by an instrumental, complete with bugle and some killer guitar riffs, and as Matt announced what will be their first proper single release ‘Everyone's Got To Fallen Into Line’, which features the line “I've got to find a rhythm to settle down to”. It’s a really catchy mid tempo number, which deserves to be heard by more people once it’s released. Steve Lamacq are you listening?! Other set highlights included the superb ‘Just Before You Take the First Step’, as well as the long epic, psychedelic opening track off their forthcoming record ‘Winners and Losers’ which is most reminiscent of fellow Brighton band Electric Soft Parade's ‘Silent to The Dark II’. Not even the broken drum can break the bands stride as the song builds to its crunching finale. The band is mostly quiet between songs aside from Matt’s bit of banter with a few mates in the crowd. Also featured in the set was their now infamous version of a Mariah Carey song with worryingly high pitched harmonies from drummer Sam. The evening ends with a slightly slower older number titled ‘Why the Sale’ which seems to go down well with everyone and ends the night on a good note. So despite the small venue not being full, tonight was a great chance to see Actress Hands up close in such a small and intimate place, and with a bit of luck, once their new record's released they won't be playing gigs this small for much longer. What a great idea, take the wealth and talent of the local music scene and stick on gigs every night of the week, for free. Yes, that’s FREE. No such thing as a free lunch? Well there is here in Brighton, and that’s exactly what Brighton Live is, a weeklong free music festival. Kicking things off tonight are three very different bands who are playing a great little venue. Audio spends most of its time as a hang out for the local club kids who are after their fix of banging beats and all night dancing, but tonight things are going to be rather different. Despite the stage looking more like a small step, it’s a nice small set-up, despite looking a bit cramped. Slowly the venue begins filling up as the first band of the night takes to the stage. Frock (who feature Clearlake drummer Toby) have been around for a while now and last year released their debut record, that despite not being picked up by the mainstream media, still proved popular with people with their ears to the underground. Tonight the four-piece band run through a brilliant half-hour set that features two new songs as well as some of the older material from the debut record. Sound wise its hard to really describe Frock as their songs can go from being psychedelic Beatles type numbers, to more acoustic songs reminiscent of Elliott Smith and with more than a nod here and there to the indie rock of James. Overall this was a really enjoyable set and it’ll definitely be worth looking out for this lot in the future. After a trip to the bar, the second band is all ready to go. Until this evening I'd never seen Celebrecide before, and they make for a pretty odd experience. All five band members look like they’ve wandered in from other bands, while the frontman (anyone know his name?!) stands rooted to the spot, hands clasped round the mic as he delivers his half spoken word vocals. Musically they’re somewhere between The Fall and The Wedding Present with the vocals sounding like a less aggro Johnny Rotten. They seemed to go down well with most people and got a general good reception, but didn’t do anything for me at all and it all got a bit dull after a few songs. So to the main band of the night, Clearlake The band have been holed up in various studios for the best part of a year, busy writing and recording their new record ‘Amber’. On the evidence of a few demo tracks posted recently on their website, the new record will be well worth the wait once it's finally released. Because of this, tonight’s appearance is a rare chance to see Clearlake, and one of only a handful of dates played so far by the band this year. Despite that, tonight is a very stripped down low key affair, the band doing without the normal use of keyboards and synth effects and going back to rocking out with the guitar, bass and drums combo. The basis of the set is made up of new songs, which are being road tested on a live audience, some of them for the first time. Frontman Jason Pegg is strangely on the quiet side, and it takes until four songs into the set for him to acknowledge the small crowd, but when he finally does it's with his usual subtle charm. Whether it's the size of the venue or what, but the band seem to have a much heavier guitar sound than with the previous times I’ve seen them, which is certainly not a bad thing, and the band seem to be enjoying it all too. Harmonica driven set opener ‘Under Neon Signs’ gets things off to a brilliant start and gets the crowd really into it. This was followed by a rocking new song ‘Good Clean Fun’ and one of the highlights of their ‘Cedars’ record ‘Come Into the Darkness’. Of the newer material played, the standout tracks were undoubtedly the beautiful ‘It's Getting Light Outside’, with its chorus “then we turn around and find we’ve talked all night, it's getting light outside”, as well as the catchy guitar riffs of ‘I Hate It That I Got What I Wanted’, which will no doubt cause a bit of a crowd jump around at future gigs. Set closer was a rapid run through of probably their most well known track ‘Let Go’, with its choppy guitars that recall early era Blur. Due to a 10:30 finish there’s no time for any encore so the band say their thanks and stroll offstage and to the bar for a few well earned pints. Despite the absence of songs such as ‘Jumble Sailing’ and ‘I Hang On Every Word You Say’, tonight’s gig was a great chance to hear the new Clearlake sound and get a taste of their forthcoming record, and on this evidence the future's looking very bright indeed. Clearlake setlist: (I think this is right) |