Arguably one of Brighton’s finest garage rock duos, ARXX, have certainly come a long way since the Brighton & Hove News first witnessed their live set at The Haunt (now Chalk) on 4th November 2017.
Back then we noted:
“Support acts tonight for PINS were ARXX and Madonnatron. ARXX are a Brighton based Garage Rock duo of Hannah Pidduck (vocals/guitar) and Clara Townsend (drums), who broke onto the scene early 2014. They marry together an eclectic range of influences stemming from punk, blues, soul, and garage rock and tonight their half hour set went down rather well with the punters. There sure was quite a bit of energy coming from the stage especially as there were just the two of them”.
I can recall that back then, they were first on the bill and as we arrived and purchased our drinks at the bar located nearest to the stage, we were suddenly blown away by this wall of noise. On turning around to inspect the stage, I can remember being taken aback as there was only the two of them!
Three months later, on 23rd February 2018, it was an important day for the duo as they unleashed their 6-track EP with a Launch Party at The Quadrant, (now The Folklore Rooms) located in central Brighton. The songs on the release were ‘Moments At A Time’, ‘Intervention’, ‘Stuck On You’, ‘The Cat Song’, ‘Tired Of You’ and ‘Masters Of Device’. Listen to the EP HERE.
Things have been gaining in momentum since that release, as ARXX went off to play sets around the UK and then in Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany, before returning home for more. The Brighton & Hove News have since witnessed several live sets from the duo including their headliner at The Prince Albert on 28th March 2019 – Review HERE.
Their second EP, ‘Wrong Girl Honey’, followed in 2019 and featured ‘Iron Lung’, which crossed the million-stream threshold. A series of singles appeared over the next few years, including 2020’s ‘Call Me Crazy’, 2021’s ‘Deep’, and 2022’s ‘Can’t Stand You’.
Wind the clocks forward past the lockdowns and ARXX have been rather busy indeed as they are set to release their debut album titled ‘Ride Or Die’ on 31st March. It will be available in clear vinyl as well as CD and no doubt on download.
The tracklisting of ‘Ride Or Die’ reads:
‘Baby Uh Huh’
‘Deep’
‘Not Alone’
‘God Knows’
‘Ride Or Die’
‘Call Me Crazy’ (ft. Pillow Queens)
‘Stuck On You’
‘What Have You Done’
‘Never Want To Go Back’
‘The Last Time’
‘Iron Lung’
‘Outro’
In support of this album release, ARXX will be performing live at Resident in Kensington Gardens, Brighton from 6:30pm on the day of its launch, namely Friday 31st March. Ticket and album options are available HERE. Regarding purchasing the album, the duo stated “For every album that’s bought we will do a little happy dance! Thank you for supporting us. Big love, Hanni and Clara”.
The duo have not gone unnoticed in The Great Escape new music festival camp as they have been booked to play this year’s festival which runs from 10th to 13th May – Details HERE.
Not content with this, ARXX will be playing a headline show (organised by JOY. promoters) at Patterns on Friday 16th June. Tickets for this show can be purchased HERE.
For more information on ARXX visit www.arxxband.com
