“The loudest powerpop band on Earth” play Brighton

LOS PEPES + YOUNG FRANCIS HI-FI + REX SPEEDWAY AND THE DENIM AVENGERS + THE ATOM JACKS – THE PIPELINE, BRIGHTON 29.02.20

This evening we had the opportunity of getting our ears and minds blown courtesy of Los Pepes (aka the self-proclaimed ‘loudest powerpop band on Earth’), who were appearing at The Pipeline in Brighton.

The Pipeline is certainly a hidden gem in town and if you are a fan of quality vegan food, decent beers and roots punk rock, then this is definitely THE place to be!

Tonight’s headliners Los Pepes are returning to Brighton having previously appeared at The Prince Albert with The Bellrays only last month – read our review HERE.

The band were originally put together by London musician Ben Perrier (lead vocals/guitar) and this evening he is joined by his three chums, who I suspect might be Guilherme Rujao (Les Paul guitar/vocals), Adam James Smith (Fender bass) and Jimmy on drums.

They take to the stage at 10:23pm and you really can’t move an inch in the compact venue and they launch straight into ‘Guilty Pleasures’ from their 2014 ‘Los Pepes For Everyone’ album. God it’s loud and raw, with a real retro garage punk vibe akin to early days Slaughter & The Dogs, mixed with the more commercial powerpop sounds that used to be proudly brought to you by those wonderful (mainly lost) Irish bands signed to ‘Good Vibrations’ Records, including The Undertones first output. I used to snap up as many ‘Good Vibrations’ EP’s as I could when they first came out, with their DIY gatefold sleeves and punk does Beatles melodies contained in the grooves of the black vinyl. Ahhh happy memories!

‘Guilty Pleasures’ was swiftly followed by a trio of cuts from their latest wonderful half white half red vinyl album ‘Positive Negative’, which were ‘Still Belong To Me’, the title track, followed by ‘Anyway’. It was dawning on me that yet again The Pipeline had seriously delivered another awesome act, with previous one’s being London SS and The Zeros (the Latino ones not UK one’s). Haven’t been to a dud gig there yet!

It was immediately becoming apparent that I would be spending a small fortune at their merch stand as I sadly do not currently own any of their releases. I was after some CD’s to play in the car for my many jaunts around Sussex as the ‘Del Stragefish Show’ is sadly not on the radio all of the time on Radio Reverb. Unfortunately I was thwarted as they don’t make CD’s just vinyl and downloads. It was seriously peeing down outside and there was no way of getting dry non creased/spoilt vinyl to the car which was parked a mile or so away. A sad end to the night, but hopefully they will make a swift return to Brighton so that I can rectify the situation and lighten my pocket.

I have a punk mate called Dave (doesn’t everyone know a Dave) and he’s been banging on about Los Pepes for a long time now and I should have listened to him earlier, as I have been deprived of listening to their brilliant body of work until now – shame on me!

Los Pepes blew our minds with a fourteen song set, which I had wished had been longer, but there had been no less than four bands on the bill this evening and time had run out. The other regret being wot no ‘This Is Rock And Roll’, but they did play The Ramones-esque ‘Mean It At The Time’, so I will let them off.

Word is certainly getting out on Los Pepes as they have recently toured Germany and are heading out again on tour to Japan this April – good luck guys!

Los Pepes setlist reads:
‘Guilty Pleasures’ (found on 2014 ‘Los Pepes For Everyone’ album)
‘Still Belong To Me’ (found on 2019 ‘Positive Negative’ album)
‘Positive Negative’ (found on 2019 ‘Positive Negative’ album)
‘Anyway’ (found on 2019 ‘Positive Negative’ album)
‘Unknown’ (found on 2014 ‘Los Pepes For Everyone’ album)
‘The Trap’ (found on 2017 ‘Let’s Go!’ album)
‘Mean It At The Time’ (found on 2017 ‘Let’s Go!’ album)
‘Automatic’ (found on 2019 ‘Automatic​’/​’Here Comes The Darkness’ EP)
‘Let Me Tell You Something’ (found on 2019 ‘Positive Negative’ album)
‘Let’s Go!’ (found on 2017 ‘Let’s Go!’ album)
‘Too Late, Too Late’ (found on 2014 ‘Tonight 7″’ EP)
‘I Ain’t The One’ (found on 2017 ‘Let’s Go!’ album)
‘Action’ (found on 2019 ‘Positive Negative’ album)
‘Situations’ (Slaughter & The Dogs cover)

Check out Los Pepes on Bandcamp and on Facebook.

First up this evening were The Atom Jacks who are a relatively young West Sussex trio based in Chichester consisting of Jamie, Josh and Sam.

Their modus operandi is thus: “Duck and cover! The Atom Jacks are a Civil Defense detachment formed to spread information to the general public on action when under atomic threat. Through music. For science and your own safety. Nuclear Power Surf. Kaboom”.

I like the way these guys roll – swingin instrumental 60’s surf beats for a brighter future. Their imagery is spot on and reminds me of my childhood days of rockets, space and burying your head in Ladybird Books such as the 1964 ‘Exploring Space’ and 1972 ‘The Story Of Nuclear Power’ (both from Achievements Series 601). There’s a Gerry Anderson feel about it as well.

Tonight they were wearing their nuclear power worker suits for protection and were witty, for example “If you’re hot in here it is because of the Plutonium we’ve planted in the room. You’ll be safe if you buy our radioactive shielded t-shirts on sale at the back of the room”. Both the guitarist and bassist went out into the crowd whilst still playing.

Up until now, they have somehow evaded our attention, despite having played in Brighton half a dozen times within the past 13 months. They are now most certainly ON our radar and so look forward to the announcement of a new Brighton concert.

Check out their Bandcamp page HERE.

The next ‘characters’ to grace the first floor stage was Rex Speedway And The Denim Avengers, who are once seen never forgotten! Their Facebook profile lists the personnel as Rex (Fuzz-Shout), Dr T (Bone Whang-Fuzz), XBB (Fuzz Bass), Jim-Fu (Fuzz UFO) and Meatbag (Fuzz Karaoke).

Here is another band that has gone under our radar, despite having performed three Brighton concerts in the past eight months and having supported the Death Valley Girls at The Haunt back in March last year. This memorable quintet is fronted by Rex aka Nick Rex Pitcher, who was sporting a rather menacing mask whilst performing this evening. It’s a trademark that most certainly reminded me of the voodoo figure of Baron Samedi in James Bond’s eighth outing from the 1973 film ‘Live And Let Die’, which was based on Ian Fleming’s second novel which was originally published in 1954.

Obviously this is all meant to be tongue in cheek as the guys have a laugh, but menacing it was and it worked rather well. Rex was encouraging the punters to attend this evening, with the offer of “free cheese”, and indeed there was a selection of cheese packets thrown into the crowd at the end of their set, which nicely tied in with their penultimate number ‘A Fish Full Of Cheese’. Shame the tune wasn’t about dollars or pounds! Mind you, it could have been worse as their opener is titled ‘A Arse Pocket Full Of Corned Beef’, imagine tins of that being hurtled towards you or even the raw stuff from the deli counter! Oh that’s gone and done it! I’ve given Rex and his pals a wicked idea!

Despite all of the frolicking about which included naming themselves as ‘Ted Skidmark And The High Society’ on their setlists this evening, here is a band that can actually play garage rock very well indeed and they have the often used two guitars, bass and drums format, but they have additional retro feel through the added Korg synth, which sets them apart from many other Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers types.

www.instagram.com/rexspeedwaydenimavengers

It was now time for the main support artist of the evening, Young Francis Hi-Fi, who are no strangers at Brighton & Hove News Music Team HQ. We picked up on Young Francis pre- ‘Hi-Fi’ days, when it was just ‘YF’ by himself working as a one-man punk band. I can recall joining in on drums, tambourine and shakers with my mates (Drew and Mark) up at his Prince Albert show. It was a hoot, virtually the whole audience was banging instruments along with him. He did very well to get everyone involved as sometimes it’s not the British way to come out of your shell and take the plunge – It’s all too embarrassing. Not that ‘YF’ would understand as he was born in Germany.

The Hi-Fi part of the band is 75% of the disbanded Rotten Foxes, namely MacDaddy (guitar), Jimi Dymond (bass), and Danny Camelot (drums), with former vocalist Rhys aka Rusty Nails having a severe case of wanderlust and going off on a world tour. We covered the final Rotten Foxes gig – read it HERE.

The trio approached the enigmatic Young Francis and thus the band was officially born. The ‘Hi-Fi’ are certainly not as wild as they were in the Rotten Foxes days, with band members moshing in the crowd and being hoisted aloft above their heads and paraded around the venues, but the music is very much in keeping with the pre ‘Hi-Fi’ days in that you get The Stooges meets trad 1977 punk, which is a most pleasant combination.

This evening we were treated to a dozen Young Francis compositions and the compact crowd really enjoyed the whole set. Young Francis certainly knows how to interact with the eager punters and the music fans reciprocated.

Young Francis Hi-Fi setlist:
‘Julia’, ‘Gimme A Kiss’, ‘Jealous’, ‘I Want You To Know’, ‘Same Old Story’, ‘Suzie’, ‘Bad Attitude’, ‘Do You Like Good Music’, ‘I Wanna Hold Ya’, ‘Short Hair Girl’, ‘Girls Like You’, ‘101’.

Check on the Young Francis Bandcamp page as well as the Rotten Foxes Bandcamp page.

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