LIZ LAWRENCE + ARXX – PATTERNS, BRIGHTON 27.9.21
It’s quite rare that a support band metaphorically grabs you by the scruff of the neck and proceeds to throw you around, but that’s what happened with ARXX, and their primal rock ‘n’ roll. 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. Guitar and drum duos are hardly unusual these days, but I was somewhat taken aback by just how powerful these two were. Great stuff!
Much has changed since I saw British indie pop singer/songwriter and guitarist Liz Lawrence barely a month ago. She has a new album, ‘The Avalanche’, which was released last week. Unfortunately, none of Liz’s merchandise has arrived for this gig, so the album wasn’t on sale. Additionally, touring Brighton’s record shops the next day I couldn’t find a copy on sale for love or money. It is available on Liz’s website though. Order/stream HERE.
With the new album, also comes a new band, and tonight was their first gig! Not that you’d know, they were very tight and clearly very well rehearsed. This band has an expanded line-up as Liz is joined by another guitarist. Initially this concerned me, as I suspected that the new boy had been recruited to play the interesting bits, whilst Liz concentrated on singing and playing rhythm, but this isn’t the case. There is a lot of dual lead guitar going on, and both guitars are fed through a quite dazzling array of pedals and gizmos. Much of the time the guitars don’t actually sound like guitars, which is rather cool.
Liz marvels that she has released her new album so close to the beginning of the tour: “why did I do that??” She is also, she says, “cooking”, as she is wearing a woollen suit, having been playing outdoors a lot recently. Despite the non-availability of the album, eight songs are played from it tonight, including ‘Babies’ and it’s rather frightening intro recording of the titular babies as an encore. The new tunes go down well, being the well-crafted songs that we have come to expect from Liz.
The final encore is ‘None Of My Friends’, and the band leave the audience hungry for more. For the first night of a tour, and the first gig with a new band, this was an astonishingly assured performance. If you weren’t there at Patterns on 10 Marine Parade, Brighton, be sure to catch Liz Lawrence later on her tour. She and her band are on fine form.
I had a brief chat with Liz after the gig, and when I told her that I was reviewing it, she asked me not to “say anything unkind”. Well, I can confirm that there was absolutely nothing to find fault with! A great gig.
Liz Lawrence setlist:
‘The Avalanche’
‘California Screaming’
‘USP’
‘Drive’
‘Saturated’
‘Where The Bodies Are Buried’
‘The Good Part’
‘Life Again’
‘Whoosh’
‘I’ll Go On’
‘Navigator’
‘Down For Fun’
‘Hope’
‘Violent Speed’
(encore)
‘Babies’
‘None Of My Friends’
Check out Liz’s website for further information and links – www.lizlawrencemusic.co.uk
