SHADY BABY + NIL BY HABIT + LADYLIKE – GREEN DOOR STORE, BRIGHTON 10.2.23
Brighton was buzzing for a Friday night, with a whole host of different style concerts to choose from, but atop of the pile for the Brighton & Hove News Music Team was the headline gig from Brighton’s rising stars Shady Baby.
The previous night they were added to the wild Priestgate concert that took place at The Prince Albert (Review HERE). This evening, Shady Baby were playing an extended set at the ever popular Green Door Store.
As we were out in force this evening, we thought that it would be a great idea to split the work between us! So it was agreed that reviewer Teddy Webb would cover the opening act, Ladylike; reviewer and photographer Moe Noble would review the second band Nil By Habit, as well as grabbing shots of all the acts; reviewer Peter Greenfield would review headliners Shady Baby; and Music Editor Nick Linazasoro would collate and edit it all together….Thus good people, here is our work, enjoy…….
Ladylike kicked things off at 8:02pm and for the next 26 minutes they offered up dreamy affectations to their particular brand of indie. Their no wave inspirations rang proudly through their set, from their Beyond Retro eclectic style to their stage setup dotted with synths. Much like a cowbell on a punk band’s drum kit, if I see a Korg synth I know I’m in for a fun gig.
Opening track ‘Losing Pace’ gently led us into the set, but also into the stunning voice of frontwoman Georgia. Her performance on songs like ‘Left Out’ was absolutely sublime, capturing that sort of elegant disaffection with modern love that people love in acts like Big Thief. It wasn’t all reverb and misery though; as the set neared its end, their more palmful side emerged, as guitarist and synth superstar Archie seemingly competed over who could tear up their strings the fastest during ‘Motorcar Racing’. It was sadly all over by 8:28pm.
Ladylike will next be playing live in Brighton on Wednesday 22nd February at The Hope & Ruin alongside Rosie Alena, The Leaning, and Jelly Cleaver as part of the ‘Hidden Herd’ monthly series of new music discovery nights. You can purchase your tickets for that night HERE.
Ladylike setlist:
‘Losing Pace’
‘Language Unknown’
‘Independent Wrestler’
‘Shame’
‘Operation Repeat’
‘Left Out’
‘Motorcar Racing’
After a 19 minute live music hiatus, it was now 8:47pm and time for Nil By Habit to grace the Green Door Store stage in order to entertain us for the next 29 minutes. The Brighton & Hove News had last witnessed these guys when they played the special ‘New Year’s Eve Bash’ at The Rossi Bar located on Queens Road – Read our account of that evening HERE.
This outfit aren’t your average post-punk inhabitants of Brighton. They come glaringly obvious in orange but are for sure more exciting. They certainly know how to work a room with punchy drums and getting amongst the audience for their looping guitar hooks and, whilst they may not have started out here, they have already managed to pin down precisely what the locals value, singing about ‘The SpiegelTent’.
Although they have been releasing music since 2018, they played a setlist which only included post-pandemic tracks, Including ‘John Cusack’ where the drummer and vocalist switch places. The Korg Monologue keys added another layer to Nil By Habit, a tool for building and sustaining suspense. Wedged between Ladylike and Shady Baby they created a line-up you could never tire of, it was a showcase of Brighton’s most underrated bands on the scene right now. By 9:16pm they were done!
They are definitely a band I would go and see again. Nil By Habit will be dropping their next single, titled ‘BBC’ on 24th February – details HERE.
Nil By Habit:
Ronan – vocals, guitar, synth & drums
Stan – vocals, guitar & synth
Alex – bass
Josh – drums & guitar
Nil By Habit setlist:
‘Television’
‘John Cusack’
‘BBC’
‘Spiegel Tent’
‘Sheer Scale Of It All’
After a 20 minute break, it was now 9:36pm and time for tonight’s headliners, local indie-rock band Shady Baby, to again show us what they have to offer us, just a day after opening for Priestgate over the road at The Prince Albert.
Shady Baby is the musical project of Brighton-based Sam Leaver. Sam began making his own brand of angst-ridden pop during lockdown. He takes his inspiration from the sounds of Madchester and Britpop, and his love for John Cooper Clarke’s work. Shady Baby has now morphed into a four-piece band fronted by Sam with Laurie Debnam on guitar, Nick Varnava on bass and Tom Jackson on drums.
Right from the opening drum beats from Tom Jackson on ‘Master Of None’, Shady Baby were straight into top gear and on the attack. Their following number, ‘Starting To Slip’ was a short sharp song. ‘Lonely Town’, the next track, was from Shady Baby’s double A-side single on Nice Swan Records. A song about feeling that you’ve wasted your life. At times Sam was literally screaming the vocals on this song.
There was a short change in tempo for the next tune in Shady Baby’s 43 minute set. ‘Feel It Too’ had a slightly mellower sound, showing that there’s more to Shady Baby than just loud, fast guitars. There was no slow start to ‘All Too Late’, which started fast and remained that way. Looking round, a decent sized mosh pit was forming at the Green Door Store, as the audience was getting into Shady Baby’s set.
Sam gave another great performance leading from the front. There were similarities to Gaz Coombes of Britpop band Supergrass in Sam’s vocals, and the band’s sound in general. Guitarist Laurie Debnam, who played the whole set with a massive smile on his face, was particularly impressive; more than matching the pace Tom set on the drums.
One difference in Shady Baby’s sound this evening compared with the previous evening, was that Nick Varnava’s bass was more noticeable. This gave a better all-round sound to the band’s performance. Also, rather than standing to the sides, both guitarist Laurie and bassist Nick were positioned much more up front, sharing the spotlight with Sam. On several tracks Laurie played with one foot on the monitors.
Come To Life’, the other side of the band’s double A side single, is an angry response to feeling like people treated you badly, but you let them get away with it, while feeling both angry at them but also at yourself for letting it happen. It had a very heavy drum beat, with Sam starting off singing to the bass and drums.
Sam introduced the next track, a new song ‘Under Duress’, by saying “We’ve going to take it down now”. This song started relatively slowly before building up speed, with some remarkable intricate guitar work from Laurie. As well as showcasing another side of the band’s sound, this added variety to their set. By contrast the introduction to ‘Held In’ had a bit of a glam rock feel about it and a great bass line from Nick.
Shady Baby ended the main section of their set with ‘Let It Slide’. A fast number with a very good instrumental break, during which Nick decided it was time to play bass in among the audience. With all band members back on stage, Sam shouted “1, 2, 3, 4” and the pace got even faster on this track, before the song finished sharply.
The band left the stage for a matter of seconds, before returning for one more song. The encore, another new song, ‘Simple Life!’ was another lively number and the longest one in Shady Baby’s set. (No complaints from me or the Green Door Store audience.) Sam gave his all throughout the set on guitar and vocals, but on this song his voice was particularly forceful. The two new tracks ‘Under Duress’ and ‘Simple Life!’ show a positive development in the band’s sound and direction. They had successfully delivered from 9:36pm to close at 10:19pm.
The band’s energy levels on stage were matched by the sizeable mosh pit. Shady Baby’s performance went down well with the audience based on their reaction and the number of people congratulating the band at the end. Shady Baby are definitely a band on the up and one to watch! If you’re a fan of energetic indie music, you can check out their Bandcamp page HERE.
Shady Baby:
Sam Leaver – vocals and guitar
Laurie Debnam – guitar
Nick Varnava – bass
Tom Jackson – drums
Shady Baby setlist:
‘Master Of None’
‘Starting To Slip’
‘Lonely Town’ (from the double A-side single)
‘Feel It Too’
‘All Too late’
‘Come To Life’ (from the double A-side single)
‘Under Duress’
‘Held In’
‘Let It Slide’
(encore)
‘Simple Life’
