ARXX – PRINCE ALBERT, BRIGHTON 28.03.19
Tonight, we hot-footed it from the Hope & Ruin on Queens Road, Brighton (where we had witnessed a couple of bands on The Great Escape preview gig – read our review HERE) up towards Brighton Station and down into the fab Prince Albert in order to catch the 2nd birthday gig celebrations from our adopted daughters of garage rock, namely ARXX.
ARXX are two women with one big sound, namely Hannah Pidduck (vocals/guitar) and Clara Townsend (drums). They marry together an eclectic range of influences stemming from punk, blues, soul, and garage rock.
The Brighton & Hove News music team were fortunate enough to catch a live set from ARXX at The Haunt on 4th November 2017 when they were supporting PINS – read our review HERE.
They were first on the bill that night and as we arrived and purchased our drinks at the bar located nearest to the stage, we were suddenly blown away by this wall of noise. On turning around to inspect the stage, I can remember being taken aback as there was only the two of them!
Three months after this on 23rd February 2018, the girls released their ‘Daughters Of Daughter’s’ 6-track EP with a Launch Party at The Quadrant. The songs on the release are ‘Moments At A Time’, ‘Intervention’, ‘Stuck On You’, ‘The Cat Song’, ‘Tired Of You’ and ‘Masters Of Device’. Listen to the EP HERE.
It appears that judging from the last years events that they have been busy building up a loyal following, which mainly consists of late teens early twenties girls. They all seemed to be happy that ARXX were in da house! Although one young lady kept saying to her female friends loudly whilst confrontationally staring at me “I Don’t Like Boys, I Don’t Like Boys”. OK I got the message, but before judging a book by it’s cover (ie me), that young lady might wish to enjoy reading our article bigging up ‘grrrl power’, that was co-written by myself and another bloke – enjoy it HERE. Also I was the one who came up with the idea for (and participated in) a two-part Radio Reverb Show about “Women In Punk”. After all we are in the all inclusive city of Brighton & Hove aren’t we! Thankfully Hannah and Clara (of ARXX) ‘like this boy’ XX.
The girls have been off on tour around the UK, the Netherlands, Sweden and Germany since I last saw them live and I have picked up on a more polished edge to their work as though they have matured a little. There was also a slight change in Hannah’s accent at times whilst singing, that was heading towards American. I made this observation to Hannah after the gig when congratulating them on their on their eight song set, and she said that she hadn’t noticed it.
Seems as though I’m not the only one to have picked up on their talents, as the girls have recorded their next two singles ‘YGWYN’ and ‘Iron Lung’ with Steven Ansell from the popular Blood Red Shoes – this is a bit of a result to say the least. They have also been headhunted to appear at the new ‘Cro Cro Land Festival’ in Croydon – details HERE and the ‘Washed Out Festival’ here in Brighton – details HERE.
I forgot to ask the ladies what ARXX means, so I put it into a well known search engine and it took me to a page that said “Arxx stands for power, practicality, ambition, success, inspiration and discipline”’ So with that in mind, you can expect to hear quite a bit more from this duo as they climb the garage rock ladder.
The ARXX setlist reads:
‘Moments At A Time’, ‘Intervention’, ‘Stuck On You’, Swallowed The Sun’, ‘Tired Of You’, ‘YGWYW’, ‘Iron Lung’, (encore) ‘Masters Of Device’
More information on ARXX HERE.
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