HOTWAX + THE DAMN SHEBANG + TOP LEFT CLUB – THE HOPE & RUIN, BRIGHTON 25.2.23
My oh my! I’m pretty certain that local promoters ‘Stay Sick’ and the owners of Brighton’s Hope & Ruin on Queens Road are still buzzing from their special Brighton Tattoo Convention free entry after party which took place in the Brighton venue last night!
The Brighton & Hove News Music Team arrived just minutes after the event officially kicked off, to be greeted by a line of willing punters queueing outside of the venue all endeavouring to get inside and enjoy the DJ sets from the Stay Sick DJ’s. Inside was already literally a handful off capacity and clearly negotiating your way to the downstairs bar would require a military strategy!
We DID get in and we DID make it to the bar to wet our whistles!
On offer for the evening was a rock solid lineup of live bands featuring Hastings’ ascendant upstarts HotWax, local legends The Damn Shebang, as well as everyone’s favourite synth punk, shell suit revivalists Top Left Club! DJing during the event were Hélène de Joie, founder of Factory de Joie, and the tag team dee-jay duo, Kate Hodges and Jeff Pitcher of Silver Dream Machine fame as well as the Stay Sick DJ’s. The vibe of the event was added to by liquid light art and live visuals behind the trio of bands whilst they performed courtesy of Lewes based Innerstrings.
The doors officially swung open at 7pm and the party closed at 2am. Obviously the capacity was limited for the night of killer rock ‘n’ roll kicks! We were also here for their New Year’s Eve bash, but I must say that I don’t actually recall seeing the building this chokka before. There were people of all ages and genres all gathered together to have a great time……and a great time was indeed had!
The first live act of the night were the joyous juxtaposition of Top Left Club who contradict their look and sound via sporting mullets and donning shell suits, whilst playing vintage style punk rock as it should be played! I can just imagine them playing at say Rebellion Punk Festival (hint hint!) and strolling on the Blackpool stage in their gear and many in the crowd thinking “WTF is going on here?”, and then the lads let loose and there’s a massive sigh of relief throughout the room as the punters suddenly realise that their bodies have involuntarily started pogoing…Classic! And the award for “Don’t judge a book by its cover is……”.
The Top Left Club lineup features both members of the SKiNNY MiLK, duo, namely Johnny Hart on Epiphone bass and vocals with Tim Cox on drums and from Young Francis Hi Fi, completing the TLC lineup, are MacDaddy on Epiphone guitar plus Jimi Dymond on lead vocals and Yamaha Reface DX keys. Incidentally, Young Francis Hi Fi’s next live outing in Brighton will be at The Pipeline on 3rd March with Bad Mojos, Electric Cowboy Club (e.c.c.) and Doglung – Tickets HERE.
Back in 2021 the quartet dropped their eleven song debut album, titled ‘Shoulders At 90’, of which eight of the tunes are given an outing this evening during their thrilling 17 song 36 minute set, which commenced band on half eight. Yep, with gaps in between the tunes that works out on average at around two minutes per composition, just like how punk should be….“Get in, hit them between the eyes, and get out!”.
Their follow-up album is virtually in the can and the remainder of their live set (bar one surprise) will no doubt surface on the next platter…Can’t wait!
As always, the lads won the punters over within seconds of commencing their set at the street level downstairs bar area. The mosh pit certainly got going, in fact it did for all three bands, and notably with many different souls each time, so clearly each act had brought along their own fans, which is encouraging.
There wasn’t a single dud toon in the whole of the performance, there never is with TLC. My own personal favourite stand out tracks being ‘Rip’, ‘No Control’ and ‘Tie Me Down’, plus the surprise of the set, a faithful rendition of the Ramones ‘Judy Is A Punk’ from the band’s self-titled debut album that dropped as early as 23rd April 1976. For this song, they were joined by event organiser Neil ‘Sick’ Smith on joint vocals. I kid you not, the tune made the hairs on the back of my neck and those down both of my arms stand to attention, it was a wonderful feeling and worth the trip into town solely for these 90 seconds of pure delight…“Gabba gabba hey!”.
By 9:06pm they were done and the human sardines were well and truly pickled!
Top Left Club:
Jimi Dymond – vocals/keys
Johnny Hart – vocals/bass
MacDaddy – guitar/backing vocals
Tim Cox – drums
Neil ‘Sick’ Smith – guest vocals
Top Left Club setlist:
‘Intro’ (unreleased)
‘Talk Talk’ (from 2021 ‘Shoulders At 90’ album)
‘Rip’ (from 2021 ‘Shoulders At 90’ album)
‘Scratch’ (unreleased)
‘ICU Tonight’ (from 2021 ‘Shoulders At 90’ album)
‘Connection’ (unreleased)
‘No Control’ (from 2021 ‘Shoulders At 90’ album)
‘Piss’ (from 2021 ‘Shoulders At 90’ album)
‘World’ (unreleased)
‘Rattle My Brain’ (unreleased)
‘Teddy Biscuits’ (from 2021 ‘Shoulders At 90’ album)
‘Judy Is A Punk’ (Ramones cover)
‘Dream’ (unreleased)
‘Shark Eyes/Slugs’ (unreleased)
‘Frown’ (from 2021 ‘Shoulders At 90’ album)
‘Tie Me Down’ (from 2021 ‘Shoulders At 90’ album)
‘Demons’ (unreleased)
Next up, after a live music break of 31 minutes and an adjustment to the drumkit with different cymbals, it was the turn of The Damn Shebang which is often stylized to ‘The Dmn Shbng’, to grace the rear corner of the rammed room. Despite these guys forming back in Brighton in 2015, tonight was surprisingly only our second encounter with this quartet, the first being last New Year’s Eve.
The outfit consists of Dead Seany on vocals and Yamaha Reface YC compact combo organ keyboard, JJ Symon on Burns Marquee electric guitar, Dan Brown on drums, and Lyn Gasper from The Atom Jacks on Squier Phoenix bass who had literally just played with the band down at The Pipeline before rushing up to play for us. Just in case you are wondering who was playing down there, it was LUO, Mullholland and Cephos Powders.
Back in 2019 The Damn Shebang dropped their ‘Goths On The Beach’ single, but Goths they are not! Their debut long player ‘Damned If You Don’t’ followed in 2021, a handful of these would be played for us this evening as part of their 32 minute 10 tune set which commenced at 9:37pm.
Clearly here is a band that are fans of the rock ‘n’ roll trash psychobilly style, especially that of The Cramps and The Birthday Party, or as they refer themselves as “Brighton’s Premiere Evil RnR band”. There were once again twangs aplenty from the guitar and bass, which were supplemented by the keys and drums.
Dead Seany, who certainly was offloading his vocals in a meaty style, ventured into the crowd on a couple of occasions and was briefly totally lost amongst all the souls present. The ‘souls’ being just as lively as they were for TLC, maybe even more so.
They too played a cover version, that being Tom Waits ‘Big In Japan’, which is the opening number from his thirteenth studio album ‘Mule Variations’ which came out back in 1999, 16th April to be precise. There was a nice touch from JJ Symon who referred to Top Left Club as “best tracksuits in the business!”. Can’t fault that analogy mate!
Although I must honestly confess that I’m not a great lover of anything vaguely psychobilly orientated, their final number, ‘Be Your Baby’ which is arguably their fastest, was the standout tune for me, along with their catchy ‘Goths On The Beach’ single. By 10:09pm they had finished, rapturous applause followed.
You can catch The Damn Shebang (plus Lyn’s other band The Atom Jacks) in action in Brighton when they play ‘Lyn’s Trans Fundraiser’, which will be taking place at the Green Door Store on Saturday 25th March – Purchase your tickets HERE.
The Damn Shebang:
Dead Seany – vocals/keys
JJ Symon – guitar/backing vocals
Lyn Gasper – bass
Dan Brown – drums
The Damn Shebang setlist:
‘Black Slack Ripper’ (unreleased)
‘Molly’ (from 2021 ‘Damned If You Don’t’ album)
‘Put Me Out’ (unreleased)
‘Let’s Get Pleathered’ (from 2021 ‘Damned If You Don’t’ album)
‘Zodiak Advice Line’ (unreleased)
‘Goths On The Beach’ (from 2021 ‘Damned If You Don’t’ album)
‘Make Me Feel Sick’ (unreleased)
‘Black Boots’ (from 2021 ‘Damned If You Don’t’ album)
‘Big In Japan’ (Tom Waits cover)
‘Be Your Baby’ (from 2021 ‘Damned If You Don’t’ album)
Check out their Bandcamp page.
The final live performance of the night fell into the hands of Tallulah Sim-Savage (vocals/Fender Jaguar guitar), Lola Sam (Rickenbacker bass/vocals) and Alfie Sayers (drums), namely Hastings-based teenagers HotWax, who were to entertain the excited crowd with eleven numbers lasting 39 minutes from 10:31pm to 11:10pm.
They were originally going under the banner of ‘The Kiffs’ when they were a mere thirteen years old and we at Brighton & Hove News reviewed them twice in early 2019. They underwent a reshuffle in losing their singer and gaining a new drummer and are still very much a young outfit, but the sounds they make with their instruments give off the air of confidence and maturity for their years.
HotWax are finding themselves on more and more peoples’, promoters and festival organisers’ radar, due to the fact of their energetic live performances. Yesterday’s performance is no exception, with woeful songs of teenage angst, ferocious love, and tunes so beautifully innocent yet so poignant with an energy inspired by life. Put it this way, they didn’t have to get all that sweaty to command the attention of the whole room.
Clearly 2023 is going to be their year, there’s a new single ‘Treasure’ coming out on 8th March, which will prove this, but there is still a little work to do here and there and rounding off the edges. One point in particular being Tallulah’s occasional quiet vocal parts, which could do with a little work, but on the rest of the shouty screamed vocal delivery, there is certainly no work required whatsoever. Alfie being the newest member of the trio has hit the ground running and watching him attacking his kit yesterday, was a joy to behold. Lola’s bass in parts when required can be rather meaty indeed, and their overall indie rock and punk styled numbers are lapped up by all those present.
I looked around me during their set and they have a young following of similar ages to themselves, many of whom were having a good old mosh, but the band are also appreciated by the more mature clientele in the room such as yours truly and Radio DJ Melita Dennett.
When I last reviewed HotWax I stated that I had wished that they had concluded their set with ‘Rip It Out’, which features Talking Heads style bass sounds courtesy of Lola and lyrics from Tallulah including “Rip it out of my arm and rip it out of my chest and rip it out of my hair”. This number offered a quietly menacing snarl over bouncing bass octaves that built to a crescendo of venomous screaming. Pure fluke or they took this onboard as they did this time around they closed their set with it….It was great, as was the new number ‘Phone Machine’ which really rocked. ‘Barbie (Not Yours)’ with its ‘Start!’ vibe as in The Jam, was a corker!
HotWax will be going out on tour across the country as support to The Pearl Hearts. There is a Brighton concert as part of that, they will be playing The Prince Albert on 17th May – Tickets HERE.
HotWax:
Tallulah Sim-Savage – guitar/vocals
Lola Sam – bass/vocals
Alfie Sayers – drums
HotWax setlist:
‘Treasure’ (forthcoming single)
‘When We’re Dead’ (2021 single)
‘All That I Want’ (unreleased)
‘Drop’ (unreleased)
‘She Don’t Like It’ (unreleased)
‘Stay Cool’ (2020 single)
‘High Tea’ (unreleased)
‘1000 Times’ (unreleased)
‘Phone Machine’ (unreleased)
‘Barbie (Not Yours)’ (2022 single)
‘Rip It Out’ (unreleased)
Check out their Bandcamp page.
