TRAAMS + PUBLIC BODY – PATTERNS, BRIGHTON 12.10.22
Traams which is stylized as ‘TRAAMS’ as it stands for “Time Reference Angle of Arrival Measurement System” are an outfit that got it together around eleven years ago, when the core band members Stuart Hopkins (vocals and guitar), Leigh Padley (bass) and Adam Stock (drums) met at a nightclub in Bognor Regis going by the name of Goo. They bonded over their mutual tastes of music, specifically musicians such as McLusky, Pavement, Television and Kraftwerk. The latter of which is evident in the TRAAMS sound, but very early Kraftwerk.
TRAAMS were last in town when they played an album launch instore concert at Resident record shop in Brighton on the day of its release, that being 22nd July 2022. The album is titled ‘Personal Best’ and was available in a limited edition ‘dinked’ blue vinyl edition. This was the outfit’s long overdue third album, with the previous two dropping back in 2015 (‘Modern Dancing’) and 2013 (‘Grin’).
The band decided to organise a 10-date UK and European tour in order to support this new release. The opening night was this evening at Patterns in Brighton and so we at Brighton & Hove News decided to go along and see what was occurring.
We know the score with Patterns these days and so allowed time for us to be scanned in with our ID. We made it just in time in order to catch the tour support artists, who are Brighton based combo Public Body. They graced the stage at 7:47pm and over the space of the next 32 minutes performed their 10 tune set, which concluded at 8:19pm.
Public Body are a quintet that consists of Seb Gilmore (Epiphone ‘glam rock style’ guitar and lead vocals), Like Vosper (Fender Stratocaster guitar and bv’s), Tom Bacon (two Korg synths, whistle and bv’s), Silke Blansjaar (Fender bass) and Thom Mills (drums). Frontman Seb is now London based but the other four are here in Brighton.
This was surprisingly my first live encounter with the band, but had previously downloaded some of their material on Bandcamp prior to the onslaught of Covid. Tonight we took up position at the front as the venue at the beginning of their set was sparse. I understand that folk have to get home from work, eat, change and get themselves out again, but over the decades I have found it the best policy to always really try to catch the support artists even if I have never heard of them before. You never know what you are going to get, sometimes they might be pants and just once in a while you come across an act that you think “Oh yesss, this is what I’ve been looking for!”. Guess what….Public Body are one of these bands! The more tunes they offloaded to us, the more excited I got! So obviously you now know how the report on this quintet is going to go, but I’ll give you the rundown anyway!
As I said, the venue was sparse, but I have to say that the growing numbers were certainly enjoying what they were hearing from Public Body. Of the ten tunes, I strongly suspect that six of them are as yet to be released. I, for one, are really looking forward to their next release as that’s where some of their best tunes will be found.
They opened with their 2020 ‘Presenteeism’ single and followed that with the title track from their current ‘Flavour of Labour’ EP. I was taking note of the music and it wasn’t just myself that was enjoying their modern indie sound. Four unreleased tunes followed, ‘Way, No Way’, ‘Dysfunction’, ‘Ridicule’ and ‘Driven By Data’. ‘Dysfunction’ had a rather post punk vibe to it, but ‘Ridicule’ was all out punk in the vein of the likes of Discharge. Was I surprised or what? It was awesome and hopefully will see the light of day in the not too distant future. The keyboards kicked off ‘Driven By Data’ and that morphed into another decent ditty and boppy track.
‘Reset My Password’ from their 2022 ‘Flavour of Labour’ EP was up next. This had the feel as though it could have been a DITZ composition with its jerky guitar delivery. ‘Cathode Ray Tubes’ was another terrifically menacing tune. ‘No Constraint’ called the Stratocaster into action to begin with, then the dual vocal modern punky sounds followed with Thom’s drumming a highlight of this one. They closed with the 2022 ‘Break From Life’ single, which was yet another decent tune. I was very taken aback by this quintet and now they are solidly on my radar. All I need now is for them to book more local gigs after they have completed their dates with TRAAMS, and then also to get into the studio and record ‘Ridicule’ and the others. There’s no way that TRAMMS will be able to trump this set for me! I guess I will be in a minority stating that, but Public Body are paving the yellow brick road in front of them. Follow this band….you know it makes sense!
Public Body:
Like Vosper – guitar and BVs
Seb Gilmore – guitar and lead vocals
Tom Bacon – synths and BVs
Silke Blansjaar – bass
Thom Mills – drums
Public Body setlist:
‘Presenteeism’ (from 2020 ‘Presenteeism’ single)
‘Flavour Of Labour’ (from 2022 ‘Flavour of Labour’ EP)
‘Way, No Way’ (unreleased)
‘Dysfunction’ (unreleased)
‘Ridicule’ (unreleased)
‘Driven By Data’ (unreleased)
‘Reset My Password’ (from 2022 ‘Flavour of Labour’ EP)
‘Cathode Ray Tubes’ (unreleased)
‘No Constraint’ (unreleased)
‘Break From Life’ (from 2022 ‘Break From Life’ single)
After a live hiatus of 28 minutes, it was now the turn of Chichester based headliners TRAAMS to show us exactly what they have got.
The band took to the stage at 8:47pm and entertained the almost sold out crowd with nine long compositions over the next 62 minutes. Stu, Leigh and Adam were joined by a couple of friends tonight, with a girl (stage right, our left) on Roland SP-404SX Linear Wave Sampler, Korg keyboard and others as well as adding backing vocals, there was a guy on the opposite side who was in charge of a small box type keyboard and guitar. Leigh was on Fender bass, Adam on drums and Stu on Fender Mustang guitar and lead vocals.
They opened up their set with the oldest tune ‘Klaus’ from their 2013 ‘Grin’ album. Stu’s vocals blend into the music almost like another instrument. You immediately get the impression that Adam is a master craftsman as his joint cymbal and drum bashing are at the same time just like a robot. It’s very impressive and I watch him more than anyone else during their set. No wonder his wrist was strapped up, the beginnings of RSI maybe?
Next up is the first of four numbers from the latest ‘Personal Best’ album, in the form of ‘Dry’, which sounds like a mashup of Moon Duo meets a 1960’s James Bond Theme, but a really gritty version. It’s certain that Hawkwind, NEU! And fans of Kraftwerk’s first works would love this tune. ‘The Greyhound’ is next, it can be found on their ‘4 Songs’ EP from last year. Unfortunately we can’t really hear any of the keyboard work on this and several others as they are swamped by the repetitive drumming, guitar and bass sounds, which is a shame.
The numbers came and went and it all got modern prog rock central, with some of the numbers slowly speeding up and culminating in a crescendo, as the crowd were whisked away on a magic mushroom journey for each of the plus seven minute tracks. The songs had an almost jam session vibe to them and there was not much diversity in their overall sound. As a result of this my mind was wandering and I was rapidly losing interest. There was also no communication with the crowd between numbers, and they were content to let the music do the talking. The lyrics certainly weren’t as I have no idea what any of them were throughout the hour plus set. It’s official, I was getting bored and thinking how great Public Body were, when all of a sudden TRAAMS were on their final number ‘A House On Fire’ from last year’s ‘4 Songs’ EP, and this had elements of Warsaw era Joy Division and I was back in the room, enjoying their jerky chords, which grew more and more intense. I can understand why those chose to end with it. At 9:49pm they were done and it was time to vacate the venue.
TRAAMS:
Stuart Hopkins – vocals and guitar
Leigh Padley – bass
Adam Stock – drums
TRAAMS setlist:
‘Klaus’ (from 2013 ‘Grin’ album)
‘Dry’ (from 2022 ‘Personal Best’ album)
‘The Greyhound’ (from 2021 ‘4 Songs’ EP)
‘Sleeper’ (from 2022 ‘Personal Best’ album)
‘Cissa’ (from 2014 ‘Cissa’ EP)
‘Breathe’ (from 2022 ‘Personal Best’ album)
‘Head Roll’ (from 2013 ‘Grin’ album)
‘Comedown’ (from 2022 ‘Personal Best’ album)
‘A House On Fire’ (from 2021 ‘4 Songs’ EP)
