GEN AND THE DEGENERATES + LIBRALIBRA + JOANNA AND THE DROPOUTS – GREEN DOOR STORE, BRIGHTON 7.10.22
In the know concert promoters ‘This Feeling’ managed to bring together a trio of up-and-coming acts tonight at the ever popular Green Door Store which is located beneath Brighton mainline railway station. On the bill were Liverpool-based alt-rock band Gen And The Degenerates, along with London and Brighton based LibraLibra as well as Joanna And The Dropouts who are solidly a local band.
Gen And The Degenerates are a quintet consisting of Gen on vocals, Sean on guitar, Jay on bass, Jake on guitar, and Evan on drums. They were last in town on 9th April when they were the main support for Skunk Anansie at Brighton Dome. That night they played a half dozen tune set, but this evening we were to be treated to an extended version of that.
The 26th April 2021 was a big day for the band as that’s when they dropped their debut single ‘Underwear’, which was followed by ‘Runaway Blues’ on 7th September 2021. This year, on 30th March, they dropped their debut EP titled ‘Only Alive When In Motion’, which contained a handful of new tunes, those being: ‘Crying War’, ‘Adore Me’, fan favourite and lead single ‘Girl God Gun’, ‘Wild Thing’, and ‘Burn Your Pedestals’. On 23rd September they also dropped their new single ‘My Perfect’.
Gen And The Degenerates have certainly been gaining momentum this year, with many tipping them to breakthrough in a big way and to exceed any and all expectations put upon them. It has been reported that these degenerates are a riot of anthemic rock and aggression that bring a swagger, charm and presence to the stage, and thus making them one of the most memorable emerging live bands on the vibrant British rock scene. More on them later……..
First up this evening were local quartet Joanna And The Dropouts who are a pleasant band that consist of Jo Jacobs-Trevena, Ross Trevena, Antony Overman and Charlotte Pelham, they formed back in early 2019. They have stated that they combine a love of black and white movies, horror, 50’s and 60’s fashion and pop mixed with late 70’s/80’s punk combined, which all influence their music and style.
We previously witnessed them performing live at this venue on 9th January 2020, when they shared the bill with Glitter P*ss, Young Francis Hi-Fi, and The Hoodniks. But tonight, bassist Ross informed us that in fact the outfit had played their first ever gig at the Green Door Store and that night it was just vocalist/guitarist Jo and himself as well as a drum machine.
Back on 9th January 2020, we reported that “Joanna And The Dropouts….deliver their fun surf punk come rock ‘n’ roll vibe to the early arrivals, eager to rid themselves of those winter blues. ‘Sold Your Soul’ is a solid opener which is followed by a pretty entertaining set which evokes everyone from The Cramps to Wanda Jackson. ‘Bad At Being Good’ and the instrumental ‘George Baby’ stood out, but they save their best for near last with the little groover ‘Broken Heart Gang’ with its earworm of a chorus”.
This evening’s 30 minute nine tune concert began at 7:44pm with a disappointingly sparse turnout to begin with, which to some could have been disheartening, but Joanna And The Dropouts seem such a happy jovial bunch, especially Ross, that this certainly didn’t dent their enthusiasm. They were polite and one couldn’t help warm to them.
As you would expect Jo was on lead vocals as well as Squier Mustang guitar; Ross was taking care of bass guitar duty on his Tanglewood Rebel 4K, which was designed in the United Kingdom and manufactured in China; Charlotte was on keyboard duty with her Yamaha Reface YC synthesizer, as well as backing vocals, and occasional tambourine: and Antony was on drums.
They opened with their 2021 ‘Bad News’ single, which was followed by an as yet unrecorded number going by the title ‘Worst Enemy’. Their pop tinged mild rock punk rock numbers continued with their 2020 ‘Broken Heart Gang’ single, and another unreleased tune which is now titled ‘Revelation’ but previously had a working title of ‘Hands’. The punters that were present were having a good time and this rubbed off on the band a visa-versa. The foot tapping and hip swinging compositions continued with a couple of songs from the ‘Leopard Spots & Polkadots’ EP, in the form of ‘Cross My Heart’ and ‘Bad At Being Good’.
Jo’s vocals are delivered with a slight country tinge and thoughts of The B52’s enter my mind. Two more as yet to be released tunes are up next, ‘Moving Forwards’ and ‘Sold Your Soul’, with their finale being their current ‘You’re So Cool’ single. At 8:14pm they were done.
Joanna And The Dropouts:
Jo Jacobs-Trevena – lead vocals, guitar
Ross Trevena – bass, backing vocals
Antony Overman – drums
Charlotte Pelham – keys, backing vocals, tambourine
Joanna And The Dropouts setlist:
‘Bad News’ (from 2021 ‘Bad News’ single)
‘Worst Enemy’ (unreleased)
‘Broken Heart Gang’ (from 2020 ‘Broken Heart Gang’ single)
‘Revelation’ (unreleased)
‘Cross My Heart’ (from 2018 ‘Leopard Spots & Polkadots’ EP)
‘Bad At Being Good’ (from 2018 ‘Leopard Spots & Polkadots’ EP)
‘Moving Forwards’ (unreleased)
‘Sold Your Soul’ (unreleased)
‘You’re So Cool’ (from 2022 ‘You’re So Cool’ single)
We barely had time to refill our empty plastic beakers, when a mere 15 minutes later, we were off again with LilbraLibra who played a 28 minute set of a handful of differing compositions from 8:29pm to 8:57pm.
LibraLibra started the journey back in 2018 with the releasing of ‘Animali’, ‘Tongues’, ‘Lilith’, ‘Skin And Bone’ and ‘Skin And Bone (AK/DK Remix)’ singles. ‘Loverboy’ and its ‘Loverboy (Remix)’ with BABii arrived the following year. Back in 2020, LibraLibra released the ‘Panic Buy’ single as well as the six track ‘Hail Mary’ EP. They also remixed CLT DRP in the form of ‘Speak To My’, and were remixed themselves by Flamingods for ‘Lonely Girl (Famingods Remix)’. Lockdown hit hard and thus only ‘Candy Mountain’ single saw the light of day last year. This March they dropped ‘Here’s To You Mr Robinson’ single just ahead of their almost 20 minute 5-track ‘Modern Millennial’ EP.
We at Brighton & Hove News Music Team are certainly no strangers to LibraLibra having reviewed them on a number of previous occasions. But on our last encounter, which was only last month on 4th September at The Hope & Ruin, we were absolutely stunned as to how fabulous the new streamlined outfit had suddenly become. Was that performance just a freak, or would they be able to replicate the same glorious vibe this evening for us?
The 4th September 36 minute set encounter was the band’s first performance as a trio following the departure of guitarist Daniel Martell. Thus the outfit now consists of Beth Cannon (lead vocals), Joe Caple (drums, keys, electronics) and Guy Jones (keyboard, guitar, vocals) and they are split based between Brighton and London.
This evening’s equipment of choice included (for Guy) a Squier VI (six-string) bass and Nord Grand keyboard, as well him adding backing vocals when required, and for drummer Joe there was the addition of Moog Grandmother semi modular analog synth and Akai plus other box of tricks. It all looks rather impressive and tell you what…it is!
From the very start on ‘Brainbeast’, Beth was getting down and dirty with us punters as she initially forgoed the use of the stage and as with every previous encounter, she truly belted her heart out. This was the most powerful start from the second one and no doubt the neighbours knew that LibraLibra were in the house! Beth really does give it her all during the band’s live performances as she feels every note and every lyric vibrating throughout her whole body. Surely she must be in possession of one of the most powerful pair of lungs in operation today and her energy and enthusiasm is contagious.
Song two was ‘Hydra’ and saw Beth back on stage with the lads and booming her heart out. Joe’s drumming went into overdrive and was rather impressive. It is totally obvious that LibraLibra are moving on and moving forward in an extremely positive way. I believe that four of today’s five numbers is new unreleased material. Surely it is a matter of time before their arrival in the Official Top 40 Charts, with their take on 21st Century punk tinged energy pop.
LibraLibra are a truly theatrical and versatile outfit and their consistent in-yer-face set continued with ‘Lonely Girl’ found on their 2020 ‘Hail Mary’ EP. Beth went on walkabout to the back of the room and was getting really everyone on board.
Their penultimate number this evening was ‘Frenemies’ which was grittier and faster than its predecessor and in my opinion really should be the next James Bond Theme!!! I don’t know how one would go about informing the relevant powers that be of the existence of this composition, but bloody hell someone needs to as the millions of Bond fans around the world will be missing out on this chemistry. This was the best song of the whole evening!
The trio concluded with the lengthy ‘Mothers Ruin’, which sees Beth and Guy doing their Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson style duet. And thus ended the emotionally charged set and time for them to have a long lie down to recharge their batteries. You can bet your bottom dollar that LibraLibra will be back in Brighton in 2023.
LibraLibra:
Beth Cannon – lead vocals
Joe Caple – drums, keys, electronics
Guy Jones – keyboard, guitar, vocals
LibraLibra setlist:
‘Brainbeast’ (unreleased)
‘Hydra’ (unreleased)
‘Lonely Girl’ (from 2020 ‘Hail Mary’ EP)
‘Frenemies’ (unreleased)
‘Mothers Ruin’ (unreleased)
After a mere 18 minute break it was time for this evening’s headline act ‘Gen And The Degenerates’ to take to the stage for a 43 minute, nine tune set, which commenced at 9:15pm. Sadly, tonight wasn’t a sell-out, although it was just as busy as it was for LibraLibra, but it’s likely that this might not remain so in the future for both Gen and Beth.
Everyone’s eyes are immediately drawn centre stage to vocalist front person Gen with their sardonically feminine and breathless whirlwind “don’t-f*ck-with-me attitude”, which is accompanied by a quartet of counterparts who offer up snarling fuzzy rock blues style guitar and drums backing. There is (stage right, our left) Sean, with ample flowing locks’ who is notably in control of a left-handed Squier Jazzmaster guitar and pops up on backing vocals from time to time; to the rear is Evan who is seated behind the drumset and he also deals with the various electronic presets; there’s bare chested Jay on Squier Precision bass and backing vocals; and lastly on stage left (our right) is Jacob, who also has flowing locks, on normal right-handed Squier Telecaster guitar and backing vocals. The three axe people in the outfit certainly had the benefit of sufficient pedal power on the floor. These effects pedals included a Moog Music Moogerfooger and such like.
They opened with their debut single ‘Underwear’ from last year, which was followed with the first of four tunes culled from the ‘Only Alive When In Motion’ EP, which was ‘Adore Me’. Like Beth beforehand, Gen was offering up another powerful vocal delivery, which was at times tinged with an American accent.
By my reckoning, there was a trio of unreleased material on offer this evening, with the first of these being ‘Drive’, which was swiftly followed by the newest number ‘That’s Enough Internet For Today’, which is about annoying people on the internet. There was an almost spoken vocal delivery on this one at times. This song gave Gen the cue to verbally highlight and raise awareness of the anti queer situation occurring in Iran, Poland and elsewhere. Thus suggesting people act on this on the internet as this is not a boring subject matter.
Brand new single ‘My Perfect’ was up next, and Gen ventured into the crowd and stood on the wall at the back of the room. Strangely, this was also done by Alan Dooley of Thumper just two days earlier – Read our review of that night’s events HERE.
The final unreleased tune came next. It is titled ‘Jude’ and this was a homage to Gen’s auntie, who had passed away. We were encouraged to remember those close to us that have also passed and the house lights were cut and fans were instructed to turn on their mobile phone lights. This many did and it was wonderfully atmospheric for this slower reflective number. Gen also played a Arturia Keylab 49 Essential keyboard that was moved to centre stage for this song.
The final three numbers were from their EP, namely ‘Girl God Gun’, ‘Crying War’ and ‘Burn Your Pedestals’. During the final number guitarist Sean decided to jump off stage and get it on down with us. They vacated the stage at 9:58pm and we all went away a tad deafer than we were on entry.
Gen And The Degenerates:
Genevieve Glynn-Reeves aka ‘Gen’ – vocals, keys (she/they)
Sean Healand-Sloan – left handed guitar (he/they)
Jay Humphreys – bass (he/him)
Jacob Jones – right handed guitar (he/him)
Evan Reeves – drums (he/him)
Gen And The Degenerates setlist:
‘Underwear’ (from 2021 ‘Underwear’ single)
‘Adore Me’ (from 2022 ‘Only Alive When In Motion’ EP)
‘Drive’ (unreleased)
‘That’s Enough Internet For Today’ (unreleased)
‘My Perfect’ (from 2022 ‘My Perfect’ single)
‘Jude’ (unreleased)
‘Girl God Gun’ (from 2022 ‘Only Alive When In Motion’ EP)
‘Crying War’ (from 2022 ‘Only Alive When In Motion’ EP)
‘Burn Your Pedestals’ (from 2022 ‘Only Alive When In Motion’ EP)
Find out more at www.genandthedegenerates.com
