THE PINK DIAMOND REVIEW + HOW TO LIVE + PARIS ALEXANDER – THE PRINCE ALBERT, BRIGHTON 15.12.19
Brighton is most certainly rammed with musical talent. It’s THE place to be! The world’s your oyster if you want to form a band, practice, record material and play live! There’s so many decent options available for budding artists.
One company that has crossed the void from studio facilities to playing live (of sorts) is Brighton based Blue Door Productions. They own a recording studio which offers online production, mixing and mastering with a personal touch. They help artists to stand out and achieve their creative goals. They can also provide original music for all visual media, such as film, television and advertising, whether it’s songs, soundtracks or sound effects. They also occasionally organise local concerts and tonight at The Prince Albert, is one of those occasions.
On the bill this evening are The Pink Diamond Revue, How To Live and Paris Alexander.
Prior to the band’s taking to the stage, we could observe that there was going to be an enjoyable backdrop of swirly coloured graphics and film snippets in action for the whole evening. This as it turns out worked a treat, especially for the headline act.
First up were Paris Alexander who were playing together for the very first time. Not content with that, but their charming vocalist Eirēnē Musique was also doubling as promoter for the evening. Talk about jumping in at the deep end.
As well as Eirēnē, there was Alex on guitar, Martin on drums, Andy on bass and there was also a guest appearance at the end of their set from Matt Warneford, who is the leader of IAMWARFACE and he only had two days in which to learn his lines.
They performed a seven song set, which began with a tune that certainly allowed Eirēnē to expand her lungs and was bordering on classical. The following numbers were more traditional synth recipes, with most pleasing swirling and echoey parts and occasional heavy bass synths, with jangly guitar. If you are a fan of The Cure tracks ‘A Forest’ and ‘In Between Days’ and New Order’s ‘Dreams Never End’ and ‘Regret’, then Paris Alexander are certainly for you!
Next up were How To Live, who are a London based minimalist alt-pop duo who work with a variety of instruments including drum machines, live drums, guitars, and synths to create their distinctly British sound.
We were informed by the promoter that this was only their second gig. Which would therefore mean that we were actually present at their debut concert back in August. No wonder at the time, they informed us that we were their guinea pigs. It all makes sense now. Back then, part of our report read……..
“How To Live are made up of Thomas Anonymous and Rich Summers, who specialise in making rhythmic, minimal, cinematic music with a tribal edge, something along the lines of Psyche or Soft Cell. I liked the circular single-pad analog drum synthesizer which reminded me of those hexagonal ones used by Gary Numan in 1979”.
Once again tonight, my notes virtually mirror my initial comments, but this time around I added that their bangin’ tune ‘Lawns Of England’ was most enjoyable.
Tonight’s headliners The Pink Diamond Revue are unique and once seen never forgotten. Eccentric? Positively! Captivating? Affirmative! Enjoyable? Definitely!
The way we see it is an electro-amalgam of 1987-89 ‘Music For The Masses’ era Depeche Mode; the electro-psych vibe of TVAM; ‘Peter Gunn’ flavour Art Of Noise; a snippet of Sigue Sigue Sputnik and lashings and lashings of Sheep On Drugs imagery and sounds that the likes of Marc Almond would adore. The way The Pink Diamond Review see it “A world where ‘60s film soundtracks meet sampladelic acid house in a baggy-punk rathole somewhere in Interzone”.
The way they see it …“Live band fronted by Acid Dol a model from another dimension”. The way we see it is two guys, namely chisel-edged featured ‘Thin White Duke’, London based guitarist and vocalist going by the name of Tim Lane accompanied by Reading based drummer Rob Courtman Stock and fronted by the top half of a female mannequin doll, that they may or may not be obsessed with! See what we mean HERE.
Tonight, Rob constantly drummed away in the background, whilst Acid Dol and Duane Eddy style guitarist Time Lane, took front of stage. They were both animated, one with the assistance of the other. One had absorbed the essence of mid 70’s David Bowie meets Martin Fry (ABC) with guyliner at a tattoo parlour, and the other donned shades and a couple of hats.
There was no need for a microphone, as there were no lyrics, just an onslaught of guitar riffs that Neil X (Sigue Sigue Sputnik) would have been proud of. The only spoken material emanated from the cut ups that ran with the electronic backing. You can see what I mean by enjoying my fave track of the set, the all too brief ‘Go Go Girl’ – watch the official video of the track HERE.
