SNAYX + PLAY DEAD – THE ROSSI BAR, BRIGHTON 21.8.21 / ON A HIDING TO NOTHING + MAKING FRIENDS – CAROLINE OF BRUNSWICK, BRIGHTON 21.8.21
It’s August. It’s Saturday night. And some real rockin’ action is much needed!
Post covid and many gigs are on each night in Brighton, especially on a Saturday night! A dilemma ensued! Which one, or more like which ones, would I be able to attend? How far away are the venues? Who’s playing and what time will they be on stage from and what time will they finish? Some research and calculations were to be had!
I finally decided to start my night at a new venue for the Brighton & Hove News Music Team, the Caroline Of Brunswick, which is located opposite The Level at 39 Ditchling Road, Brighton, BN1 4SB. Then I would whizz across town to The Rossi Bar which is at 8 Queens Road, Brighton, BN1 3WA.
The reason for starting at the Caroline Of Brunswick was that only three days ago I had witnessed a great set by Brighton’s relatively new indie rockers Making Friends, who I had witnessed at The Hope & Ruin on the same bill as CUTTING TIES, H_ngm_n, and Lambrini Girls. Read our review of that night HERE.
Tonight was mainly a decent night out with my camera and simply to add just a few words on each act, rather than the usual longer gig reviews. Thus bearing that in mind, here we go…snap…snap…snap…snap!
Making Friends were sharing the bill this evening with CAPTAIN TRIPS, Discover A Fire and On A Hiding To Nothing. This concert was moved a few days ago from The Pipeline to Caroline Of Brunswick.
I would realistically only have time to catch the first couple of acts here this evening and hope that I can catch the others at a later date. Thus, CAPTAIN TRIPS and Discover A Fire were missed. But just in case you are wondering what they are like, here goes….
CAPTAIN TRIPS are a three-piece skatepunk band hailing from the Portsmouth/Fareham area of Hampshire and tonight was their first post covid concert. Find them on Bandcamp HERE and catch a snippet of their Caroline Of Brunswick set HERE.
Discover A Fire have stated that they offer “Melodic Punk Rock from Norfolk” and that they “sit very comfortably between the Pop-Punk sensibilities found in classic 90’s Punk and the soaring vocal and guitar melodies found in early 2000’s Skate Punk”. Grab their merch HERE and catch a snippet of their Caroline Of Brunswick set HERE.
The two acts that I was lucky enough to catch were On A Hiding To Nothing as well as Making Friends again.
On A Hiding To Nothing are in their own words “are a fast melodic punk band heavily influenced by other fast melodic punk bands”. Well I certainly wouldn’t disagree with that, having enjoyed their blistering set this evening! Check out one of their numbers recorded at the show HERE. But be warned the video contacts yours truly in action with my camera on the left (stage right).
The quartet have been releasing material on and off since their self-titled debut 4 track EP was dropped on an unsuspecting world in April 2015. The band released their debut album ‘We’ll Probably Be Fine’ on 8th February this year – Check it out HERE.
Making Friends consists of Ryan Mansell (lead vox/guitar), Daniel Farrell (lead guitar), Bill Laken (bass/vox) and Pete Thomas (drums/vox). They are Brighton based and formed less than a year ago and take inspiration from bands like Captain Everything, Lagwagon and Belvedere.
As per three days ago, the band raced through their Green Day-ish compositions at 200mph. The tunes were culled from their recent releases as well as performing tunes from their debut album, which is to see the light of day some time during 2022.
Go check out their Bandcamp page HERE.
Two bands down and (hopefully) two more to go, as I bolted out of the Caroline Of Brunswick and headed up to The Rossi Bar in the hope of catching PLAY DEAD and SNAYX. The latter of which I had seen performing live only a couple of months ago at The Prince Albert along with Weekend Recovery and A VOID – Read our review of that night HERE.
Tonight’s Rossi Bar concert on Queens Road was initially scheduled to have taken place on Saturday 10th July, but had to be moved for obvious covid reasons.
On arrival at the Rossi Bar, I had discovered that I had thankfully only missed one band. They were GURF and according to themselves are “the meatiest math/funk/electro Metal band to come out of Brighton”. The band is made up of Jack Reavy (guitar), Dan Pearse (bass) and Daniel Pimblett (drums). Back in June they released their ‘An Hero’ single, which followed on from last year’s ‘Lethal Hot Beef Injection’ single.
Find out more about GURF by visiting their ‘linktree’ HERE.
My first Rossi Bar band of the night was called PLAY DEAD and they formed in the school yards and teenage bedrooms of Herne Hill in South East London. They are NOT to be confused with the 1980’s goth band of the same name. This PLAY DEAD serves up a slice of reality with sharp knives as they verse on boredom and youth apathy on their debut EP, ‘Skint’, all delivered with deadpan Gen-Z charm. Check out the EP on their Bandcamp page HERE.
Clunk Magazine are certainly fans of this lot, stating “An absolute sense of youthful, reckless abandon” and I wouldn’t disagree with that!
I certainly did not want to miss the headline act, SNAYX. As when I witnessed them last time around, I reported “Rarely do I see a band where I feel the hairs rise on the back of my neck. Still, as soon as SNAYX, Ollie Horner (bass and backing vocals) drops those first almighty crushing riffs on the bass whilst manically staring into the crowd, I know I can feel I’m witnessing something a little special here tonight”.
SNAYX are a British punk rock duo hailing from the South East. They are renowned for ferocious live sets and visceral, hard-hitting bass riffs. They are set to shake up the scene in 2021 and beyond and are certain to bring Snake-like charm and swagger to stages across the UK. Tonight was indeed no exception. I certainly would urge you to get down to see these guys rock the next time they are playing. You won’t be disappointed!
Find out more by visiting snayx.com
