WORKING MEN’S CLUB – KOMEDIA BRIGHTON 20.7.22 + KARL BARTOS – RESIDENT, BRIGHTON 20.7.22
Those wonderful people at Resident music in the North Laine area of Brighton seriously need thanking tonight! Not only had they organised an instore book signing in Kensington Gardens by former Kraftwerk legend Karl Bartos for his brand new 634 page epic hardback book ‘The Sound Of The Machine: My Life In Kraftwerk And Beyond’ which goes on sale tomorrow via Omnibus Press, but afterwards in the next street (Gardner Street) they had also organised an outstore live music performance by the excellent up-and-coming Working Men’s Club in the Komedia Brighton.
Karl Bartos has certainly been busy writing his memoirs. This I guess partly explains his lack of musical output over the past decade. He has certainly emulated the Kraftwerk pace on this one. Bartos was a key member of electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk between 1975 and 1991, which was arguably their heyday period after ‘Autobahn’ (1974). During his time with the band they released ‘Radio-Activity’ (1975), ‘Trans-Europe Express’ (1977), ‘The Man-Machine’ (1978), ‘Computer World’ (1981), ‘Electric Café’ (1986) and ‘The Mix’ (1991).
In 1992 Bartos founded Elektric Music. This new project released the Kraftwerk-style ‘Esperanto’ in 1993, and then the more guitar-based ‘Electric Music’ in 1998. In between the two albums, Bartos collaborated with Bernard Sumner and Johnny Marr on Electronic’s 1996 album ‘Raise The Pressure’. In 2003, using his own name, he released the synth-pop album ‘Communication’, and after a decade’s gap Bartos returned with his next studio album, ‘Off The Record’. On 12th May 2021, Kraftwerk was announced as one of the inductees of the ‘Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’ with Bartos being one of the inductees along with Ralf Hütter, Florian Schneider (RIP) and Wolfgang Flür. Kraftwerk fans might like to note that Wolfgang Flür will be appearing at the Concorde 2 on Saturday 1st October 2022 – details HERE.
Tonight’s signing session in Resident was due to commence at 5:30pm, but his ‘Trans Europe Express’ transport was running a tad late and thus he and his two chums graced us with their appearance at around 6pm. There was as you would expect a queue in the music shop, which spilled out into the street and a little way along the road. We all queued up and exchanged a few words with Heir B as he joyfully signed the books that we all had purchased from the store. I had so much to say to him, having been a Kraftwerk fan since 1974. I have all of his music output to my knowledge, but I only conveyed that I had seen him as a solo act about 20 years ago. He was impressed.
Kraftwerk have always been a mystical band to myself and hordes of fans around the world. The inside workings of the outfit have always been almost taboo and so I’m actually torn as to whether to read this new release or not! But I guess that I must!
Find out more about Karl at www.karlbartos.com
I left Resident a very happy man as I had never met Bartos before. I eventually made my way to the Komedia for some very much needed liquid refreshment and some enjoyable banter with friends, prior to the Working Men’s Club 52 minute set that they were unleashing to the full capacity crowd.
The band hail from Todmorden in West Yorkshire and were formed in mid-2018 by vocalist/guitarist Sydney Minsky-Sargeant, guitarist Giulia Bonometti, and drummer Jake Bogacki. After the release of their debut single ‘Bad Blood’, the band evolved towards a more electronic sound, with Bonometti and Bogacki leaving the project, replaced by bassist Liam Ogburn, and multi-instrumentalists Mairead O’Connor and Rob Graham. The current lineup consists of Sydney Minsky-Sargeant (vocals/guitar/drum machine/synth), Liam Ogburn (bass), Mairead O’Connor (guitar/keyboards/vocals) and Hannah Cobb (synths/backing vocals).
Their self-titled 47 minute debut album hit the unsuspecting world on 2nd October 2020 and I have been playing my copy ever since, along with the arguably even finer single sided 12” Megamix that preceded the LP on 29th August 2020.
Prior to them taking to the stage, I was studying their equipment and noted that Hannah will be playing a Sequential Pro 3 synthesiser which offers a hybrid of solid, old-school analog synthesis paired with versatile digital technology. She also had a state-of-the-art modern Sequential Prophet-6 synth with its pure, unadulterated analog tones. Not content with that there was also a Behringer MonoPoly Analog Synthesiser as well. Clearly, Hannah is a valued member of the team. She’s the newest to the fold and likely to have been recruited by bassist Liam, as they are also both in another band called DEK. The Brighton & Hove News Music Team witnessed them playing at The Hope & Ruin back on 1st February, as support to The KVB. This concert will live long in the memory for me as it was the final concert attended by my partner Jordan Mooney prior to her passing away. Read our account of that concert HERE.
On the opposite side of the stage (our right, the band’s left) this evening, Mairead was going to be in charge of her Korg Prologue equipment with the ‘Korg’ lettering amended to read ‘Orgy’. She was to also play guitar for a while as well, whilst Liam took over her keyboard duties. Completing the lineup is Sydney. WMC is very much his baby. He’s the frontman, vocalist, and in charge of the box of tricks known as an ‘MPC Live II Music Production Center’, as well as Roland blips and beats and he will also be playing his Fender guitar.
The outfit took to the stage at 8:02pm and performed eleven cracking tunes. A handful of these were culled from the brand new ‘Fear Fear’ album via Heavenly Recordings which they released last Friday. Working Men’s Club are very much a band of the moment and I wouldn’t mind betting that this release will go crashing into the Top 10 of UK Albums chart this coming Friday evening and thus cementing the band’s fame status.
This is about my fourth encounter with the band and they are certainly heading in the right direction for me – very electronic!
Sydney is very much the central character of the outfit and it’s hard to move your eyes away from him. He usually struts around the stage, whilst his trio of bandmates remain relatively static for the duration of the sets. But as the Komedia stage is rather compact, Sydney is forced to stay in situ. There was to be no hoisting him aloft through the crowd tonight, it was a case of they came, they played, they went! There was no idle banter about truly loving Brighton and so forth. The quartet let their music do all the talking. It was a rapid fire set, with a majority of the tunes flowing into each other. No time for any “thank you’s” in between them. Think of the persona of early days New Order and you’ve got it.
They opened with the Kraftwerk-esque ‘Valleys’ from their debut album. Gosh I hope Bartos and his chums have sneaked into the venue to watch these guys, instead of whizzing back to London. ‘Valleys’ segued into the faster slightly 1990’s rave style ‘19’ from the new ‘Fear Fear’ platter and the punters merrily danced away.
‘Widow’ from the new release was up next. This certainly has a heyday early 1980’s synthpop vibe and for me is one of the three best tunes found on this new disk. ‘Widow’ segued into ‘A.A.A.A.’ and before we knew it we were onto ‘Circumference’ and the tune ‘John Cooper Clarke’. ‘Money Is Mine’ and ‘Ploys’ – both from the new ‘Fear Fear’ LP – were up next and these both reminded me of electro-funky era Cabaret Voltaire a la ‘Sensoria’. Every number so far has been a corker!
‘Be My Guest’ with Sydney on guitar was the next choice with its earworm lyrics “Let me in, let me out, let me scream now”. I wonder how many punters left the gig and sung this one to themselves on their way home?
Their penultimate number was ‘Angel’, which is a retro synth monster of a tune in the vein of a hypnotic Germanic classic which builds its distortion perfectly. Bartos you here? Take note!
The closing number could only really ever be their longest tune ‘Teeth’, which is a serious banger! They needed their friend/roadie to join them on guitar for this monster. This certainly heightened the crowd’s excitement and then at 8:54pm they returned to the dressing room. For this event, there was a 9pm curfew and so there wasn’t time for an encore. Having said that, WMC are not an encores band.
It was pure joy to catch WMC up close and intimate for this album launch event. They are a must see live act! This was for me one of the best gigs so far this year! I wasn’t alone!
They are returning to Brighton on Tuesday 22nd November 2022, where they will be taking to the larger Chalk venue. I have a strong suspicion that this concert will sell out, so if you fancy attending then I would recommend grabbing your tickets now! Purchase them HERE or HERE.
Working Men’s Club are:
Sydney Minsky-Sargeant (vocals/guitar/drum machine/synth)
Liam Ogburn (bass)
Mairead O’Connor (guitar/keyboards/vocals)
Hannah Cobb (synths/backing vocals)
Working Men’s Club setlist:
‘Valleys’ (found on 2020 ‘Working Men’s Club’ album)
‘19’ (found on 2022 ‘Fear Fear’ album)
‘Widow’ (found on 2022 ‘Fear Fear’ album)
‘A.A.A.A.’ (found on 2020 ‘Working Men’s Club’ album)
‘Circumference’ (found on 2022 ‘Fear Fear’ album)
‘John Cooper Clarke’ (found on 2020 ‘Working Men’s Club’ album)
‘Money Is Mine’ (found on 2022 ‘Fear Fear’ album)
‘Ploys’ (found on 2022 ‘Fear Fear’ album)
‘Be My Guest’ (found on 2020 ‘Working Men’s Club’ album)
‘Angel’ (found on 2020 ‘Working Men’s Club’ album)
‘Teeth’ (found on 2020 ‘Working Men’s Club’ album)
Purchase Working Men’s Club music at store.workingmensclub.net
Find out more at workingmensclub.net
