BIGHEAD TEA DRINKERS + NOT SARAH + THE Q-DAYS – GREEN DOOR STORE, BRIGHTON 20.2.23
Monday night gigs are a rare attendance for me, but tonight’s event at the Green Door Store was worth a Tuesday morning hangover.
Organised by Emma and the team from, ‘Smashbox Productions’ as part of their degree course with proceeds going to charity, ‘Batten Fighters Forever’ the students from Brighton Institute of Modern Music (BIMM) did not disappoint and ran a well attended event with three young bands on show.
First up were The Q-Days who were on at 8.15pm sharp and certainly looked the part, sunglasses de rigeur, comparisons to the lead singer’s mullet matching that of eighties Kajagoogoo star, ‘Limahl,’ far fetched.
Curious as to where the name may have came from, Google reports –
“Q Day is the term some experts use to describe when large-scale quantum computers are able to factorize the large prime numbers that underlie our public encryption systems”.
Suitably confused and bored by the above statement I settled in to watch the band, who were a picture of confidence and professionalism. Their target audience of late teens and twenty-somethings clearly knew most of the songs, which were all new to me. I decided they were the kind of indie band I’d like to hire for my son’s 18th birthday party. Musically I’d compare some of their set to, ‘The Doors’ with a little bit of Status Quo and Oasis, nothing highly original, but clearly on their way to bigger things.
Recently relocated from Southend-on-Sea the band consists of Zac (vocals, guitar) Zack (bass) Ash (guitar) and Ryan (drums).
Stand out songs were, ‘Your Time’ which started slowly and had a touch of Quo in the middle plus, ‘Close Your Eyes’ which had everyone singing along.
They bounced through a seven song set finishing with Led Zeppelin cover, ‘Good Times, Bad Times.’ At 840pm it was over.
The Q-Days are preparing to release their highly anticipated debut single ‘Underboard’ on 7th April. Told from an ostensibly post-apocalyptic perspective, ‘Underboard’ explores the struggles of the youth of today, highlighting the mental struggles caused by the overload of information we receive over the internet and the pursuit to escape it all. Check out ‘Underboard’ HERE.
The Q-Days setlist:
‘Take You Away’
‘Underboard’
‘Your Time Will Come’
‘Close Your Eyes’
‘Fool For You’
‘Good Times, Bad Times’ (Led Zeppelin cover)
www.colossalartists.co.uk/theqdays
Next up at 9pm were, ‘Not Sarah’.
Originally from Bournemouth but now locally based, charismatic BIMM student, ‘Sarah- Faith Tihngang’ was ably supported by two slightly less charismatic but highly accomplished guitarists.
The three piece band quickly captured the crowd and started with a soulful vibe, comparisons being drawn with Islington based rapper, ‘Little Simz’ on more than one occasion.
Stand out songs from their seven piece set were, ‘Always Online’ – about Imposter Syndrome, ‘Your Type Of Girl’ and the closing number, ‘Running Out Of Bad Luck’.
The band finished at 9.25pm, paving the way for the highly anticipated headliners.
Not Sarah:
Sarah- Faith Tihngang – vocals
Alex Keith – guitar
James Rider – bass
Not Sarah setlist:
‘Act Natural’
‘Sorry I Don’t Call More’
‘Always Online’
‘Playing Myself’
‘Your Type Of Girl’
‘Am I Cool Yet’
‘Running Out Of Bad Luck’
www.instagram.com/notsarah.co.uk
At 9:45pm, ‘Bighead Tea Drinkers’ took to the stage with a crowd pleaser titled ‘Where Is The Love?’.
Fast, punchy and confident, the band led by lead vocalist, Fred, dominated from the start, rocketing straight into their second song, ‘Why Don’t You Care?’.
As a lifelong Punk Rock fan with a somewhat narrow taste in music, I found it hard to draw comparisons, but touches of the UK Subs, ‘Warhead’ came to mind, especially at the start.
Ready for more songs I’d never heard before, I was surprised and delighted by their third song, a cover of, ‘I’m On Fire’ by Kasabian, the audience seemed to agree and the room went wild. A new experience in audience participation was “getting low”, urged on by Fred, where we all crouched on the ground and jumped up like Jack-in-the-boxes after an inevitably slow build up, it was a good laugh!
Next song was a new one, ‘Late Arrival’, which slotted in nicely with the more well known tunes.
Popular favourite, ‘Fox’, was followed by their best song, which is sure to be a big hit, ‘You’re Not Gangster’. Written in a school Science class aged 14, the band relish the song, a catchy ‘Batman’ intro morphing into pure pop Punk. More audience participation and party games followed and we are told to “start a circle”. This time I don’t join in as I’m worried I might have to go in the middle.
Next song, ‘The Way She Goes’, is backed up by great strobe and lighting work. It’s not something I generally notice, but whoever was running the light show deserves credit.
I had decided that ‘You’re Not Gangster’ was their best song, but then I changed my mind as the band finished on a high with ‘Tokyo’. Building slowly into a triumphant and happy singalong, the band were at the top of their game. The set finished at 10:20pm.
Catching up with the band in the bar after their set, there was some cheerful banter about their musical influences, Stereophonics, Inhaler, Arctic Monkeys and The Jam all being mentioned. Frontman Fred’s family had travelled down from Essex for the evening and there was a touching reunion, Mum and Dad, Mark (thanks for the ticket”) and Debbie, plus grandmother Maureen were a delight and rightly proud of their son’s achievements.
A brief discussion about scars and broken bones revealed that bass guitarist, Kian, had practised and played so hard at one gig that he, “Played it till his fingers bled”. I was suitably impressed.
Bighead Tea Drinkers:
Freddie Brindle – vocals, guitar
Ellie Hart – guitar
Kian Ramsey – bass
Marshall Tyce – drums
Bighead Tea Drinkers setlist:
‘Where Is The Love?’
‘Why Don’t You Care?’
‘I’m On Fire’ (Kasabian cover)
‘Late Arrival’
‘Fox’
‘You’re Not Gangster’
‘The Way She Goes’
‘Tokyo’
