POZI + SPEEDBOAT – THE HOPE & RUIN, BRIGHTON 1.12.21
I was mightily impressed with Pozi when I saw them at the ‘End Of The Road’ festival in September. So when I heard that they would be playing in Brighton, I thought it would be rather rude not to go and see them at The Hope & Ruin.
Support comes from Speedboat, who are a very skilled and interesting brothers duo made up of Johnny and Will Griffiths. They begin with a 1950s rock ‘n’ roll pastiche, but the bulk of their set is effectively an homage to the 1980s, even down to one of them having a mullet as per Tony Hadley circa 1985.
The beats are pre-programmed on a Roland D-50 synthesiser, but apart from that, the instrumentation varies on each song, with both members taking turns on guitar, bass, keyboards and lead vocals. A Steinberger bass even makes an appearance on the third song. I get the very strong impression that these guys lament the fact that they missed the 1980s, which are viewed in some quarters as the decade that taste forgot. Still each to his own. What can’t be criticised is the very high level of musicianship on display here. I suspect that these two are either students at, or graduates from, BIMM (Brighton Institute of Modern Music).
Speedboat will be performing live at the Green Door Store in Brighton on 8th February 2022. Ticket information HERE.
Find out more about Speedboat by visiting their ‘linktree’.
Pozi are from south London, but sound sufficiently post-punk that one could almost believe that they came from Manchester circa the early 1980s. That’s not to say that they are in any way retro. Rosa Brook puts her violin through an impressive array of pedals that takes the band well away from any post-punk gulag. Indeed, for much of the time she makes them sound positively lysergic.
The band have an album out next year, and consequently we are played some new songs, all with working titles, namely: ‘Faulty Receiver’, ‘Thru The Door’ and ‘Heavenly’. Many of the songs deal with anxiety, and there is a really thrilling tension to the music.
All three members of the band share lead vocals, but the real star of the show is Rosa, whose violin playing is, quite literally, electric. She is also very mobile onstage, whirling like a dervish and sounding like Satan’s violinist.
For their last song the band involuntarily acquire onstage a Bez couple who had been dancing enthusiastically at the front of the band, and seemingly were bent on a bit of self-promotion (they have a band apparently). They were lucky, some bands greet stage invaders with swinging guitars and kicking feet. Still, hopefully it won’t be too long before Pozi are playing bigger stages where security prevents that kind of thing.
Pozi:
Toby Burroughs – drums/vocals
Tom Jones – bass/vocals
Rosa Brook – violin/vocals
Pozi setlist:
‘Whitewashing’
‘Faulty Receiver’ (working title)
‘Retainer Man’
‘KCTMO’
‘176’
‘Diggers’
‘Engaged’
‘Thru The Door’ (working title)
‘Typing’
‘Heavenly’ (working title)
‘Ash Can’
‘40 Faces’
‘The Nightmare’
‘Watching You Suffer’
Check out Pozi’s work on Bandcamp.
