PIXELSTORM + THE PINK DIAMOND REVUE – THE BRUNSWICK, HOVE 15.12.22
A few of the Brighton & Hove News Music Team headed off this evening to The Brunswick, which is located at the seaward end of Holland Road in Hove, in order to catch the delights of Pixelstorm and The Pink Diamond Revue.
Surprisingly, some of our party hadn’t actually attended any concerts at The Brunswick before, as to venture into deepest darkest Hove equates to the ends of the Earth! However, the proprietors of said venue may wish to learn that the four newbies all really loved the venue, with one actually stating that it was his “new favourite local music venue!”. The pub was buzzing, the bar staff were efficient and friendly, and best of all, they even stocked my favourite liquid tipple, which was an unexpected result.
Tonight’s gig was taking part in their ‘Main Venue’ room, which is located to the right of the bar as you face it. The other gig room was the downstairs ‘Cellar Bar’ where an outfit called ‘Hope & Ruin’ were playing. Hmmmm wrong venue methinks…opportunity missed there! Maybe should have rocked on up to Queens Road to perform in the venue of the same name!
The Pink Diamond Revue’s 34 minute, nine tune set ran from 8:49pm until 9:23pm….more about that shortly.
Headlining this free entry event were Pixelstorm who we last encountered in September 2021 at The Bee’s Mouth, which is also located in Hove. You may therefore conclude that they are a Hove based outfit, but you would be wrong. Pixelstorm are a Surrey based duo, which consists of Peter Johnson, who resides in Reigate, and Jem who is based in Farnham. If you use the Pet Shop Boys comparison, then Peter is the Neil Tennant character who handles the vocals (on his Shure beta microphone), but in addition to this, he wields the impressive Roland AX-Edge is a keytar synthesizer, which was released in September 2018, exactly a year to the month before Pixelstorm came into being. Jem is very much the Chris Lowe character, as he tinkers around with his Korg and 5 generation Sinclair synths, as well as playing his Yamaha bass guitar.
This evening, the duo entertained us with an impressive 79 minute long, 14 tune set that ran from 9:38pm until 10:57pm. Since their inception 38 months ago, it’s fair to say that despite Covid trying it’s best to thwart their creative juices, that these lads have been rather prolific and have composed enough material for at least a triple album or more. And you know what, there’s absolutely no drop in standards with any of the tunes I have ever heard from them, as is the case with Nation Of Language, who we covered last month – Review HERE.
I’m going to address the elephant in the room right now! That being, I honestly believe that Pixelstorm are the most criminally underrated synthpop duo in existence in the UK at the moment! It is totally beyond me as to how they are still relatively unknown and have gone under (almost) everybody’s radar! If you are reading this and are fans of the Pet Shop Boys, then Pixelstorm are for you! If you remember Hi-NRG electronic dance music, Pixelstorm are for you! If you enjoy David Bowie’s 1993 ‘Black Tie White Noise’ album, Pixelstorm are for you! Jean Michel Jarre, Vangelis, Visage, Gary Numan, Depeche Mode, your bag? Then…..wait for it….. Pixelstorm are for you! Nostalgic Eurodisco synthpop fans take note!
The band they sound most like to me were called Celebrate The Nun, who were a German synth-pop band active from 1985 to 1992 and featured H.P. Baxxter, Rick J. Jordan, Britt Maxime (sister of H.P.) and Slin Tompson. Those first two names might ring a bell as they went on to found happy hardcore outfit Scooter along with Ferris Bueller. To date, Scooter have sold over 30 million records and earned over 80 Gold and Platinum awards and are considered the most commercially successful German single-record act with 23 top ten hits!
Pixelstorm kick off tonight with ‘Rise Up’, which was written about depression, a subject that needs to be discussed for everyone’s well-being. This has more than a nod to The Human League’s ‘The Black Hit Of Space’, which then builds into a crescendo with enthusiastically delivered vocals a tad like Andrew Eldritch from the Sisters of Mercy and Mark Hollis from Talk Talk. ‘Das Mindcraft’ followed, which is about your phone taking over your mind. I understand that this will be a single to be released some time next year. The Patrick Cowley-esque ‘The End Of Love’ was tune three. The subject matter of this is about the 6 stages of overcoming a breakup.
It was now time for Peter to give his Roland AX-Edge keytar synthesizer its first outing of the night, and as a result, song four, ‘Why Won’t You Look At Me?’, added an even bigger synth vibe akin to Jean Michel Jarre and Vangelis. This track is dropping at midnight tonight as the latest single. The subject is about how some boys don’t understand “no”!. You may have already noted that despite sounding uplifting and very often fun to dance to, Pixelstorm tunes tend to have a serious message behind them. ‘Two Tribes’ (Frankie Goes To Hollywood) and ‘19’ (Paul Hardcastle) anyone?
On a (possibly) lighter theme, ‘Smile Goodbye’ was up next. This is about leaving your seaside town and going to seek your fortune. ‘Silver Bear’ followed …when the bear appears, the break up is here! The duo were now on a more positive note with one of their several earworm tunes, ‘Electric Friday’, which is about girls who live for Friday night. This sounds like a long lost 80’s anthem from the annals of time probably contained on the ‘E=MC²’ album by Giorgio Moroder, but is actually new. This easy to singalong number (“She takes it all the way, electric Friday”) – Think ‘Hallo Spaceboy’ meets ‘Funky Town’. It can be found on their 5 track ‘Pressure Drop’ EP which was released in September 2021.
In fact, the more I absorb Pixelstorm’s material, the more I get the distinct feeling that every tune has been with me for the last 35 to 40 years and are a treasured (possibly forgotten) gem. They are like meeting long lost friends, filled with the excitement to boot!
‘Solar Flares’ is the next composition, which was penned about a bull in a disco with really big flares. Earworm alert….”Solar Flares in orange, yellow and pure white”. The best tune thus far, and more than a nod to David Bowie’s ‘Jump They Say’, as well as falling within A Flock Of Seagulls territory – Looking forward to their debut album being re-released on orange vinyl, as well as a 3CD set coming out in February.
The set gets even better with the arrival of the next number ‘White Knight’, which was a single released a couple of weeks ago on 2nd December. This is a hypnotic tune with standout line “Run from me, the White Knight has fallen”.
‘Space Armada’ is up next and is a composition about a robot being trapped in space. I particularly enjoyed the heavy style synth on this number, very Clan of Xymox. Their early 2023 forthcoming single ‘Diversion’ was performed for us next. This number has a wonderful Hi-NRG beat. ‘Wingman’ (which followed) will also be an early single next year. Their penultimate tune of the night was ‘Let’s Build Something New’. This has bang on lyrics “the arc of the pencil; the turning of screw; the power power of the hammer…”. And can be located on their ‘Pressure Drop’ EP. Tonight’s version also sandwiched in part of Kate Bush’s ‘Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)’ as well.
Pixelstorm bowed out with my favourite song of the night, namely ‘New Synth City’, which slowly builds and builds to epic proportions. It’s very early Gary Numan and John Foxx, but especially Visage, and even talks about Rusty Egan’s (of Visage etc) entourage.
Once again, Pixelstorm gave it their all and those in our party that had not seen them live before were very impressed indeed. They are a must see band!
Pixelstorm:
Pete – vocals, keytar
Jem – synths, bass
Pixelstorm setlist:
‘Rise Up’
‘Das Mindcraft’
‘The End Of Love’
‘Why Won’t You Look At Me?’
‘Smile Goodbye’
‘Silver Bear’
‘Electric Friday’
‘Solar Flares’
‘White Knight’
‘Space Armada’
‘Diversion’
‘Wingman’
‘Let’s Build Something New’
‘New Synth City’
Find Pixelstorm on Spotify.
As mentioned above, support came from The Pink Diamond Revue who are a unique act that are ploughing their own furrow. Once seen, never forgotten! We at Brighton & Hove News have reviewed these guys on a number of occasions, so I won’t go into great depths this time around.
The outfit is fronted by ACiD DoL who is the top half of a mannequin. Throughout the band’s nine song set, her fashion statements are changed and updated by her owner Tim Lane, who is likened to ‘The Thin White Duke’ coming out of Berlin era Bowie. Here is a svelte tattooed man with a thousand mile stare, who flits between his trusty old Fender Stratocaster and a Watkins Circuit 4 vintage electric guitar. Both of which have travelled with him many miles down the decades. Completing the trio is Rob Courtman Stock, who takes care of the drums and the secret programming. Rob is a fan of the fibre brush approach rather than the traditional drumsticks. They appear to be ‘Flix Brush – Classics’, but I wouldn’t swear on it. These guys are like chalk and cheese, but totally compliment each other during their very enjoyable sets.
For each song, The Pink Diamond Revue have an accompanying video screening behind them. This adds to the enjoyment of their set and gives it that retro shabby chic run down but loved vibe. Maybe Pixelstorm could have benefitted from making use of videos as well, just like Kraftwerk and TVAM also do.
There are only samples used for The Pink Diamond Revue songs, and thus this negates the necessity for a microphone for Tim, as he is content to shout “Cheers” in between each tune, along with a raised hippy style “peace” V-sign.
Their hip-shaking 1960’s retro surf guitar tunes are very well received by the punters this evening, and it was especially pleasant to hear ‘Weird Love’, with its ‘Theme From ‘The Persuaders’’ John Barry sample running through the track, which rarely gets an outing these days. Hopefully next time they will give an outing to their wonderful psyched-out version of ‘Diamonds Are Forever’, which is also a John Barry composition, which is equally as haunting.
The Pink Diamond Revue are another must see band!
The Pink Diamond Revue:
Tim Lane – the fuzz guitar
Rob Courtman Stock – drums/the secret stuff
ACiD DoL – fashion
The Pink Diamond Revue setlist:
‘A New Kind Of Life’
‘Lux’
‘Nuclear’
‘The Fuzz Guitar’
‘Milkshake’
‘Nothing Can Go Wrong’
‘At The Discotheque’
‘Go Go Girl’
‘Weird Love’
