THE SOAPGIRLS + HERE ARE THE YOUNG MEN & UNCLE PEANUT + PENNY BLOOD – PRINCE ALBERT, BRIGHTON 29.8.18
On my journey into Brighton to see The SoapGirls, I had a good inkling of what to expect, having heard some of the hype and snippets of banter. The sisters, Noemie and Camille Debray and their drumming pal were coming to Brighton as part of their nine month ‘Stinks Like Punk’ UK & Europe Tour that is running from April to December 2018.
The SoapGirls unwittingly (or not, depending on your point of view) seem to be causing quite a bit of controversy at the moment. A classic example being on Friday 18th May, when their original Facebook page got unpublished! 94,000 followers, known as SoapSuds disappeared overnight! Their new Facebook page is climbing up to around 15,000 and no doubt will start to climb higher.
The SoapGirls are indeed an outspoken duo, especially Camille, but during their set at the Prince Albert, I personally felt that a vast majority of what was being discussed in between their punk ditties, was honest and not explosive in any way. The gist of not taking any aggro from people and stand up for yourself, certainly reminded me of those early Sex Pistols gigs.
Noemie & Camille Debray from The Soap Girls personally told us that “Never before has the fight for freedom of expression been so important. We have come along way, but the fact that we still have to fight censorship in this day and age means that the war is not over! Political correctness has no place in art!! The truth offends those that would rather hide it, break the mould”.
Now this nicely leads me onto the fact that back in the day The Sex Pistols were the scourge of society and were attacked in the street for the way they looked etc as they were a threat to the morals of the day. Many of their concerts were cancelled and they were banned from playing in many towns. It was proving difficult to see them play live.
Jump ahead virtually 40 years and it would seem that (possibly) some things just don’t change. Three years ago The SoapGirls were attacked on stage at their gig in Hastings. Feelings were running high, so the girls obviously avoided the place. However two days after our Prince Albert gig, the girls were due to once again play in Hastings. But sadly they announced tonight, that their Hastings gig has been cancelled due to safety worries and the fact that the local punk bands (apparently) did not want to face the wrath of their peers by supporting The SoapGirls. A very sad state of affairs. I mean they haven’t murdered anybody. They simply want to be themselves and go out and play and if you are adverse to the girls being scantily clad, then you don’t have to go do you? They even started the Prince Albert gig by saying if that anyone is offended by nudity, then they should stand at the back. I wasn’t aware of anyone moving to the back.
We have had brushes with naughty nudity on stage before in Brighton when French singer Regine Fetet from Hard Corps went topless at The Brighton Centre in the 1980’s, which also caused controversy back then.
But I’m pretty sure that a large number of you would have witnessed similar on the actual streets in Brighton in some parade or cycle ride. Anyway, nuff said. Here’s about the gig……………….
The evening got off to an unexpected start with the fact that Penny Blood were much better this time than the several times I have previously seen them before! I wasn’t honestly expecting their 8 song set to be that good. It’s like everything just clicked on the night and Jim, H and Dave were having the usual mickey taking banter, but it was just fab. I wonder if they realised this themselves? And before you ask, I had only consumed less than half a pint of Burning Sky juice up until this point!
More info on Penny Blood HERE.
Well, I wasn’t expecting that! This is what I thought of Here Are The Young Men & Uncle Peanut. Having watched Penny Blood, I was rather expecting music of the same ilk. I ventured downstairs in between sets to come back upstairs to find these two blokes just starting up on stage with two microphones and a laptop – that’s it. What do we have here I thought?
I had to seriously expand my 1-2-3-4 punk anthem ethics to include these chaps. So how would I describe what I was witnessing? An update of Half Man Half Biscuit or the Television Personalities? Possibly? Add in two white-dad The Streets styleee rappers, who are fully aware of their limited musical abilities, but really don’t give two hoots, as they are going to release a single a month from September to December 2018 and there you have it! Yep that’s it.
Just in case I might have misunderstood their comedy angle, what do they say about themselves? “Uncle Peanut is an unusual man who spits words out of his mouth.” “Here Are The Young Men one man band with limited musical ability.” Oh OK, not just me then. Enjoy the chaps HERE and find out more about Here Are The Young Men HERE and Uncle Peanut HERE.
Also I reckon that Here Are The Young Men is more than likely a nod to Joy Division, with certainly nothing to do with Bryan Ferry, as they don’t like him. They have even penned a tune about him entitled ‘Hong Kong Underpants’.
It was now time for The SoapGirls to grace the stage. There were several of the usual punk types that I am used to seeing present and from the off the trio launched into their own blend of stand up for your freedom rock.
The girls strutted around the stage with a swagger like peacocks as they looked rather glam in their headdresses and you had the feel of glam meets rock meets punk venom vibe going on.
The girls were having a fun time and Noemie was continually smiling throughout their set. I concurred with them saying about looking after yourself and protecting yourself, but wasn’t a fan of the drug references, as that’s certainly not my bag, although their best track on the night is called ‘Champagne Cocaine’.
Tune after tune came and went and they even ran over (with staff approval) by ten minutes. Those present did enjoy themselves, especially the three ladies from the audience that joined The SoapGirls on stage during the final track.
Amusingly there was no setlist on the floor to grab at the end, as I could be wrong, but Camille had actually written the setlist over her body and I for one wasn’t going to ask for her to stand there whilst I typed it in on my phone – no siree.
On exiting the venue, the chap in front of me said to his mates in summing up the evenings entertainment, that it was “Uncomplicated escapism!”. I couldn’t have summed it up any better myself. Well done sir.
More on The SoapGirls HERE and HERE.
