ESTRONS + LUCIA + BERRIES – GREEN DOOR STORE, BRIGHTON 16.11.18
The hotly-tipped Welsh searing alt-rock outfit Estrons tonight pulled into a sold out Green Door Store in order to plug their much-anticipated and thoroughly enjoyable debut album ‘You Say I’m Too Much, I Say You’re Not Enough’, which was unleashed last month. The live band tonight are Taliesyn Kallstrom (vocals), Rhodri Daniels (guitar), Steffan Pringle (bass) and Adam Thomas (drums).
The record is the culmination of over two years hard touring and honing of a sound that has become theirs and theirs alone. Anthemic first single ‘Lilac’ has already picked up considerable fan and media attention and was chosen by Huw Stephens as his ‘Tune of the Week’, alongside coverage also from DIY, Dork, CLASH, NME, Kerrang!, Classic Rock and The i amongst others.
The band have also released ‘Cameras’, on which single mother ‘Tali’ sings over jagged guitars a message to her son who is currently four, which is meant to be read in the future, “I’ll always put a fight up for you, I’ll buy the day and night for you,” about, in her words, “that one love that can’t be broken, no matter how many times people try to break it down.”
Intending to carve out a body of work that captured the essence of chaos and beauty in coexistence, the Welsh act fuse off-kilter rhythms, angular guitars, clashing atmospherics and fiercely frank lyrics, to create a record that is entirely arresting and thrillingly disorienting. Clocking-in at only just over the half hour mark, ‘You Say I’m Too Much, I Say You’re Not Enough’ comprises 10 exhilarating cuts packed with all the irresistible singles ‘Lilac’, ‘Cameras’ and ‘Body’ allude to a burst of fresh air set at a breakneck pace start to end.
And that breakneck pace was continued this evening as the packed Green Door Store crowd lapped up the many servings of loud unadulterated indie rock. We have seen the band perform live previously at the same venue for last year’s Great Escape new music festival on 19th May and I have to say that Estrons have improved vastly since that last appearance. Tonight they were a band that has arrived! After their set I was explaining this vast improvement to Steffan and Adam, which seemed to go down well.
The performance this evening was full of energy and ‘Tali’ was blasting out her vocals as though they came from the heart and she enjoyed interacting with the crowd by clasping hands with those at the front. This was pleasant to witness and I can see that she truly meant it as a thank you, instead of just doing it to go through the actions.
I noted quite a number of the audience were also present at the Brighton IDLES concerts of late and so obviously if Estrons are on the same upward trajectory as them, then it’s happy days all round!
This evening was very much about getting their debut album out there and with performing no less than nine of the ten tunes on the album, everyone could see exactly how fab an album this truly is.
Estrons setlist reads:
‘Lilac’ (taken from 2018 ‘You Say I’m Too Much, I Say You’re Not Enough’ album & 2018 ‘Lilac’ download single)
‘Body’ (taken from 2018 ‘You Say I’m Too Much, I Say You’re Not Enough’ album)
‘Strobe Lights’ (taken from 2018 ‘Strobe Lights’ download single)
‘Jade’ (taken from 2018 ‘You Say I’m Too Much, I Say You’re Not Enough’ album)
‘Killing Your Love’ (taken from 2018 ‘You Say I’m Too Much, I Say You’re Not Enough’ album)
‘Strangers’ (taken from 2018 ‘You Say I’m Too Much, I Say You’re Not Enough’ album)
‘Cameras’ (taken from 2018 ‘You Say I’m Too Much, I Say You’re Not Enough’ album & 2018 ‘Cameras’ download single)
‘Aliens’ (taken from 2018 ‘You Say I’m Too Much, I Say You’re Not Enough’ album)
‘Make A Man’ (taken from 2018 ‘You Say I’m Too Much, I Say You’re Not Enough’ album & 2015 ‘Make A Man’ download single)
‘I’m Not Your Girl’ (taken from 2018 ‘She’s Here Now’ single)
‘Cold Wash’ (taken from 2018 ‘Glasgow Kisses’/’Cold Wash’ single)
‘Drop’ (taken from 2018 ‘You Say I’m Too Much, I Say You’re Not Enough’ album & 2018 ‘Drop’ download single)
Order the album HERE and find out more info on Estrons HERE and HERE.
Support tonight came from LUCIA and BERRIES.
First band up were the London based alt-rock female trio known as BERRIES, who comprise of Holly (vocals/guitar), Lauren (bass) and French born Lucie (drums), and they have been playing together for around two years.
The girls have built a founded reputation for their energetic lively shows and original take on riff-driven rock. Their upbeat melodies and cool guitar riffs, coupled with powerful bass lines and distinct drum beats, have earned them support from BBC Radio, BBC 6 Music, Radio X, Amazing Radio and recently Fender, who selected them as one of their top ten favourite new acts as part of a feature for Richer Unsigned.
As we bore witness tonight, the BERRIES live sets are packed full of charisma and energy and were certainly a great opener to get the sold out crowd in the right frame of mind. BERRIES were witnessed by many punters who had made the effort to get into the venue nice and early.
Holly had a pleasant demeanour when addressing the crowd and having spoken to these young ladies prior to their performance, I can vouch that they are all very nice people who are honing in on their no nonsense just get up and do it manifesto. They are a positive role model for other girls to go and grab guitars, bass and drums and…GO FOR IT!.
BERRIES setlist reads:
‘Siren’, ‘Waiting’, ‘Wits’, ‘Faults’, ‘Wild Vow’, ‘Dangerous’, ‘Silent’, ‘Discreetly’.
More on Berries HERE.
Having livened up the crowd nicely BERRIES handed over the reigns LUCIA, who were have seen previously perform live, when they played a rousing set upstairs at Patterns in Brighton on 17th May as part of this years fabulous Great Escape music festival. We had linked up with a Chinese music delegate for a number of shows and I can recall her being especially blown away by the LUCIA performance.
Back in May the bands talents hadn’t gone a miss on other musical artists as the band had supported The Undertones, Black Honey and The Big Moon and indeed had come a long way from being discovered busking in Glasgow as legend has it.
Since then, LUCIA have gone on to recently play sold out venues with The Vaccines and also We Are Scientists and have also been nominated for ‘Best Alternative/ Rock band’ for the Scottish Alternative music awards!
LUCIA’s new ‘Cheap Talk’ EP was released on 2nd November and has been played on Radio 1 by Jack Saunders and it features ‘Cheap Talk’, ‘Summertime’, ‘All The Money In The World’ and ‘What Am I’ and can be heard and purchased HERE. Clearly the future is looking rosy (or should that be roses – a nod to tonight’s stage prop) for LUCIA.
It’s no wonder then tonight at the Green Door Store, LUCIA took on the packed crowd with their fuzzed vocal style and indie-rock topped poppy edge format. There was even a wander into the crowd to heighten the experience and they surely went out on a high with their earworm track ‘Melted Ice Cream’, which to me has the same ‘whoo-oo-oo’ as heard on The Clash’s brilliant ‘(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais’ single.
LUCIA’s setlist reads:
‘Saturday Is Dead’, Lose My Mind’, ‘Blue Heart’, ‘A Little Pick Me Up’, ‘When I Think Of You’, ‘What I Am’, ‘Cheap Talk’, ‘Melted Ice Cream’.
More on LUCIA HERE.
