LIFE + SLANT + CONGRATULATIONS – PATTERNS, BRIGHTON 11.10.22
Local concert promoters LOUT are at it again as they have put on a trio of decent bands this evening at Patterns in Brighton. On the bill were headliners LIFE and support from two local acts Slant and Congratulations (stylized with a lowercase ‘c’, thus congratulations).
LIFE were tonight playing Patterns as part of their UK tour celebrating the release of their third LP ‘North East Coastal Town’, which you can order HERE.
LIFE are anchored by their hometown; the geography, history and community has always been the inspiration behind their creativity and on their new record the band pay homage to Hull and its folk. The eleven tracks on ‘North East Coastal Town’ finds the band at the height of their powers as they carve up a widescreen, brooding body of work that is drenched in a sense of belonging and reflection but still impressively maintains their trademark swagger and ear for pop sensibilities and guitar hooks.
The band appeared in Brighton back in November 2019 and the Brighton & Hove News Music Team were there to report on proceedings – Read our account of that night HERE. They also appeared at the Brighton Centre in January 2020, when they supported the Kaiser Chiefs – Read our review of that gig HERE.
This evening at Patterns, LIFE graced the stage at 8:45pm and entertained us for the next 63 minutes with no less than 16 tunes. Ten of these can be found on their latest album ‘North East Coastal Town’ and five of the remaining six can be found on its 2019 predecessor album ‘A Picture Of Good Health’, their remaining tune was culled from 2017’s ‘Popular Music’ release.
The quartet strolled onto The Darkness intro tape and the venue was now rammed full with us at the front rather squished. The format tonight saw camera friendly frontman ‘Mez’ on lead vocals and occasional tambourine, his brother Mick was on Fender Stratocaster guitar and backing vocals, ‘Mez’s best mate (so he told us) was Stew on drums, drum machine, backing vocals and surprisingly for their final number on a different Fender guitar. Stew’s two tiny plastic ducks atop of the cymbals brought a smile to my face. Completing the quartet is newish recruit Lydia on Fender bass and backing vocals.
From the very off (‘Big Moon Lake’) ‘Mez’ was determined to get up close and personal with the fans and throughout the performance rarely strayed very far from our photographer, Sara’s, gazing lens. ‘Hollow Thing’ was given an outing next, and after just two numbers, it is easy to see exactly why they attract people who are also into IDLES and Yard Act. At this point ‘Mez’ announces “This room is exciting!” and he wasn’t wrong folks!
‘Excites Me’ came and went and song four was ‘Incomplete’. That’s its title, not what occurred! ‘Mez’s vocal delivery on this reminded me of The Fall’s Mark E. Smith at times. ‘Almost Home’ was next and that sounded akin to the New York Punk vibe circa 1976 with The Heartbreakers, Television, Talking Heads etc. ‘Shipping Forecast’ followed with its ‘Psycho Killer’ (Talking Heads) bass sound which was rather decent. During this track Mez fancied getting even closer to us and so clambered over the crowd barrier and went on walkabout and then crouched down in the middle of the punters with many following suit.
Mez sensibly walked around the edge of the area to get back to joining his trio of comrades, rather than trying to get back over the barrier with no crowd supporting him that side. They were now ready to deliver ‘Moral Fibre’ which was a lovely punk style ditty – “Whoo” he sang and some punters joined in. The midway point was signalled with ‘Never Love Again’, where the Stratocaster was put to good use during this number with its decent twangs. ‘Bum Hour’ followed with its most enjoyable drumming and bass sounds which I would suggest were not too dissimilar to Joy Division. Mez even did a brief Ian Curtis dance along with briefly spoken lines akin to Cal from DITZ.
Song ten was to be ‘Poison’, with its twangy bass punk beat. Hot on its heels was ‘Our Love Is Growing’ which commences with an enjoyable drum machine intro and reminded me of very early New Order, especially Mick’s guitar work. Arguably one of several highlight’s of the set. ‘The Drug’ swiftly followed, and before we knew it, they were on the opening bars of ‘Popular Music’ which called the mosh pit into action for this modern indie rock vibed tune.
‘Self Portrait’ was another set highlight with its punk feel and sounds not that far away from the Sex Pistols on all instrument fronts. Their penultimate number this evening was ‘Friends Without Names’ which ‘Mez’ informs us “This is our favourite song, it’s called ‘Friends Without Names’”. This to me had a U2 style beginning, that was until the constant cymbal and drum beat kicked in. It got more and more powerful the longer it went on. They closed with a quiet reflective number ‘Duck Egg Blue’, which saw Stew kick off with the drum machine and then leave his drum kit behind in order to pick up another Fender guitar as well as him adding backing vocals as well. Here is a composition that I reckon would have tuned up on a John Peel session back in the day. This was a calm end to the evening and folks said their goodbyes, whereas others headed off the the merch stall. At 9:48pm they departed. I had enjoyed my second LIFE encounter, especially as the first time they were supporting artists and this time allowed them to show me more of their material.
LIFE:
Merrick (‘Mez’) Sanders-Green – vocals
Mick Sanders – guitar
Stew Baxter – drums
Lydia Palmeira – bass
LIFE setlist:
‘Big Moon Lake’ (from 2022 ‘North East Coastal Town’ album)
‘Hollow Thing’ (from 2019 ‘A Picture Of Good Health’ album)
‘Excites Me’ (from 2019 ‘A Picture Of Good Health’ album)
‘Incomplete’ (from 2022 ‘North East Coastal Town’ album)
‘Almost Home’ (from 2022 ‘North East Coastal Town’ album)
‘Shipping Forecast’ (from 2022 ‘North East Coastal Town’ album)
‘Moral Fibre’ (from 2019 ‘A Picture Of Good Health’ album)
‘Never Love Again’ (from 2019 ‘A Picture Of Good Health’ album)
‘Bum Hour’ (from 2019 ‘A Picture Of Good Health’ album)
‘Poison’ (from 2022 ‘North East Coastal Town’ album)
‘Our Love Is Growing’ (from 2022 ‘North East Coastal Town’ album)
‘The Drug’ (from 2022 ‘North East Coastal Town’ album)
‘Popular Music’ (from 2017 ‘Popular Music’ album)
‘Self Portrait’ (from 2022 ‘North East Coastal Town’ album)
‘Friends Without Names’ (from 2022 ‘North East Coastal Town’ album)
‘Duck Egg Blue’ (from 2022 ‘North East Coastal Town’ album)
Find out more by checking out their ‘linktree’ and visiting www.lifeband.co.uk.
Main support this evening came from former BIMM students Slant. The members are Katy Smith (vocals, keys), Frankie Stanley (vocals, keys), Aurora Bennett (drums), Jamie Broughton (guitar) and James Virtue (bass).
They themselves say that they “are an inter-galactic powerhouse” who draw “glam-rock back out of the ether and merging it with a riot grrrl energy”. They released their debut single ‘Haircut’ back in 2020 which was followed up in the same year with the alt-pop/disco track ‘La Danse’. This year Slant dropped their 4-track EP titled ‘My Friends Are All Machines’ featuring ‘Wallow City’, 2021 single ‘Eat The Moon’, ‘Nightcrawlers’ and 2022 single ‘75” TV Screen’.
The Brighton & Hove News Music Team first caught up with the quintet over a year ago when they played the Green Door Store’s ‘234 Fest’ on 19th September 2021. Within a few days, they were at it again (and so were we) when they supported The Wendy James Band here at Patterns on 30th September 2021. Within a month we were back seeing them live again for our third encounter when they performed a nine song 35 minute set when supported the terrific THUMPER at The Prince Albert on 27th October 2021. Our fourth encounter was five months later at their headline show at The Hope & Ruin on 23rd March 2022. We then caught Slant live for the fifth time when they were supporting Dream Wife at Chalk on 20th May 2022. Our last (and sixth) encounter was also here at Patterns on 25th June this year, when they were supporting The Regrettes.
Was it going to be encounter lucky number seven for Slant this evening? Let’s find out….Tonight at Patterns Slant took to the stage at 8:02pm for an eight tune 27 minute set. The venue had become more busy, but clearly everyone still had not arrived as there were still a few gaps. We believe that this evening has sold out, so the stragglers were to miss an enjoyable set from this Brighton based quintet. Their selected lighting was good and so everyone in the basement room could easily see them.
Their live format is Katy and Frankie sharing vocal and Korg keys duty, with Frankie also occasionally playing a Squier guitar, Jamie on Fender guitar and backing vocals, James on Fender bass and backing vocals, and Aurora on drums and backing vocals.
They are in the main a rather funky outfit, with their opener ‘La Danse’ setting the tone, with Frankie taking the lead and looking similar to Confidence Man’s Janet Planet. We learn that the following number is a tribute to the dearly departed X-Ray Spex frontwoman Poly Styrene. It’s simply titled ‘Polly’. Next up was ‘For The Love Of God Girl’ which certainly benefited from some decent keyboard action from time to time. The halfway point saw them performing ‘It’s The Same’, which has similarities to The Knack’s ‘My Sharona’.
‘Haircut’ was the title for their next song. For this number Katy and Frankie swapped around, thus seeing Katy taking the lead vocal and sounding not a million miles away from Kate Bush. This tune has a catchy backbeat and signalled that the quintet were going to be imminently offloading the best new material. Thus, Katy and Frankie swapped back for ‘Young Forever’, which is a slower atmospheric composition that showed off Jamie’s Fender guitar sound and Aurora’s army style drumming beat to the max. On this number, their best of the best (just!) Katy’s vocal delivery (as part of the dual shared vocals with Frankie) reminded me of Altered Images’ Clare Grogan.
Their penultimate track was ‘Shopping Song’ which is a catchy dance number featuring the repeated lyrics “I went to the shops today to get myself some dinner”. Frankie taps away at the cowbell and it does become in the same mould as Blondie’s ‘Call Me’ and The Village People’s ‘In The Navy’. This was another enjoyable tune. They sign off with ‘Driving 123456’, which has a modern funky vibe to it, but Frankie’s vocals on this reminded me of Lene Lovich as in ‘Lucky Number’. This was yet another enjoyable Slant set.
Slant:
Katy Smith – vocals, Korg keys
Frankie Stanley – vocals, Korg keys
Aurora Bennett – drums
Jamie Broughton – Fender guitar
James Virtue – Fender bass
Slant setlist:
‘La Danse’
‘Poly’
‘For The Love Of God Girl’
‘It’s The Same’
‘Haircut’
‘Young Forever’
‘Shopping Song’
‘Driving 123456’
Slant are on Bandcamp and find out more about them HERE plus at linktr.ee/slantbandofficial
First up this evening were Congratulations who the Brighton & Hove News Music Team last caught up with only a few weeks ago on 24th September when they were one of the acts performing at this year’s ‘234 Fest’ at the Green Door Store.
Here’s Andy Murphy’s account of tonight’s set……
Having made the sensible option of getting the train and not driving because apparently there was a football match on at the Amex, I arrived shortly after doors opened. After providing proof of my ID (for a split second I thought Think 25!), having my photo taken, followed by a body search, I was able to enter Patterns. It’s obviously been a while since I attended this venue as I had never experienced this procedure on previous visits.I mentioned the mode of transport because the chief reviewer for the night made the error of driving and getting stuck in the football traffic resulting in him being placed on the substitutes bench whilst I was recalled to the starting line-up for the first act of the evening.
Before the first band were due on I went to spend a penny where I could hear three men in the cubicles talking toilet humour whilst getting changed into their shorts. To spare them any further embarrassment I won’t say what else I heard but it brought a smile to my face. To my surprise it transpired to be the three male members of the first band up this evening who go by the name ‘congratulations’ with a small ‘c’, as they entered the stage in their workout gear, followed by lead singer Leah dressed in similar attire but sporting much tighter shorts. We in the audience had obviously not got the memo as we had dressed weather appropriately. From the first chords of their opening song of the night, and second single, ‘Kryptonite’ it became clear why they were dressed so as they treated us to an energetic performance which warranted a larger stage area. Jamie Chellar on guitar was particularly in danger of hitting the low lighting and ceiling with his non-stop antics on stage but avoided any serious mishaps. It is hard to take your eyes off lead singer Leah as she throws some unusual shapes which should not detract from her appealing vocals.
This local Brighton band are obviously very talented musicians yet at the same time don’t appear to take themselves too seriously as they play with smiles on their faces throughout. It isn’t easy to pigeon hole their music as they can combine many genres within one song let alone their whole set and their first single ‘Lucy Lucy’ is a good example of this and well worth a listen.
The set ends with ‘Zeitgeist’ which includes crowd involvement as we are drawn in to sing along to this catchy number. The perfect song to end their interesting set, which left me pondering which direction they will take next on their musical venture. I really don’t anticipate them settling into one genre anytime soon as they enjoy what they do, and by all accounts they do it well.
On tonight’s showing congratulations showed enough promise to be worthy of their own changing room in future. They concluded at 7:47pm, leaving many punters wishing for more.
Congratulations are next in action on Friday 14th October when they share the bill with LibraLibra at Signature Brew Haggerston in London – Tickets can be purchased HERE.
congratulations:
Leah Stanhope – vocals
Jamie Chellar – guitar and vocals
James Gillingham– drums
Greg Burns – bass
Congratulations setlist:
‘Kryptonite’
‘Junk’
‘Lucy Lucy’
‘Stay Out’
‘Easter Island Head’
‘Zeitgeist’
