FAKEYOURDEATH – THE PRINCE ALBERT, BRIGHTON 3.10.22
The Brighton & Hove News Music Team were informed about a free entry single launch showcase event at The Prince Albert and that it was to be the outfit’s first ever live performance! Well it would be rude not to go wouldn’t it! So we ventured into town and this is what we learned……
The new outfit in question goes by the name of fakeyourdeath which you note is all one word and in lower case. It’s the brainchild of Candi Underwood and Sam Barnes from raw alt-rock trio Lazybones, who we saw live at the same venue back in 2018 – Review HERE.
Turns out that fakeyourdeath is a completely different beast altogether! I have been reliably informed that this new duo were inspired by Mimi Barks, Ho99o9, and HEALTH, who incidentally we reviewed back in 2019, when they played Patterns in almost darkness – Review HERE.
The fakeyourset showcase set was planned to run from 8:30pm until 9:00pm, thus allowing us a quick getaway in order to report back as to what occurred. The single in question will drop on 4th October and is titled ‘Truth’ and as luck would have it for Candi and Sam, Alex Baker made them featured artist of the week on his Kerrang! Radio show. It was fakeyourdeath’s first radio debut as well, which is such a fine start! The Brighton based duo are certainly finding life fun at the moment as they tied the knot at the Town Hall a few weeks back as well. Therefore I guess that Candi is now possibly Mrs Barnes (nee Underwood).
Tonight’s event was kicked off at 7:30pm by an hour-long set from indie/soul/rock DJ Black Feather who has been spinning the discs since 2013.
The upstairs venue was rather busy, although not at full capacity. The punters were gathered in anticipation for the fakeyoudeath debut live set which commenced from 8:37pm. You immediately observe that they have brought in a timed lighting rig in order to bolster The Prince Albert’s existing lighting. This works wonders and the strobe effects add to the overall vibe of the set.
For about 5 minutes prior to Candi and Sam’s entrance, DJ Black Feather switched the tunes to a solid droning sound and the anticipation was building. Folks were rather warm, and I was flushed, as the air conditioning wasn’t turned on. Spying the stage, there was a Gretsch drum kit with Roland drum pads which was stage left (our right) and these were positioned sideways on. There was also an audio interface which featured the programmed drum machines, synths and an extra layer of vocals on track. These were the responsibility of Sam, and Candi took up residence opposite and was on vocal duty.
For the start of tune one, ‘Consume’, Candi adopted a half-kneeling position with her arm outstretched and holding onto the bass drum. Sam hit the Roland drum pads and their musical journey had begun.
Candi rises and now stoops still facing the drums instead of us lot. Her vocals are delivered in a screechy screaming style. The lighting throughout the brief 19 minute showcase five tune set was on the dark side and interspersed with the several strobes dotted around the stage.
After they had finished the opener, the rumble immediately kicked in again and the punters were thrown a little, as not knowing if the song had finished or whether there was more to it and whether to applaud and whoop or not. They ran into track two ‘Hell’ and folks then realised their error. In fact the drone was present in between each of the compositions, but after our first error, we knew what to do after ‘Hell’ had concluded…cue whoops and applause!
Both the opening tunes had been dark affairs, but when song three ‘Broken’ kicked off, it had a much more, for want of better words “radio-friendly” appeal. ‘Broken’ is the odd one out of their handful of songs. It’s arguably dancey, but dark-dancey, and was by far my favourite tune of the night. I do hope that this will be the next single! Candi joined us in the crowd for that up-close-and-personal vibe and returned to the stage and faced us for the rest of the set.
The penultimate number, ‘Humanity’ followed. This was in the same vein as tunes one and two. Before we knew it, they were onto their debut release ‘Truth’ which drops at midnight, Candi informed us. This drumming led tune was a fine way to finalise the onslaught, and at 8:56pm they were done…..cue droning outro music!
On leaving the venue, I spoke to a guy I know and he adequately summed up this showcase event. He said “That was sick!”. So there you have it!
fakeyourdeath setlist:
‘Consume’
‘Hell’
‘Broken’
‘Humanity’
‘Truth’
Find out more at www.facebook.com/fakeyourdeathband
