ELLIE BLEACH + TRIP WESTERNS + ROOM SERVICE + BABY GEM – THE HOPE & RUIN, BRIGHTON 19.7.23
‘Hidden Herd Presents’, Brighton’s monthly new music discovery night, spotlighting the most exciting emerging artists, ones-to-watch and hidden gems, returned to The Hope & Ruin on Wednesday. This month’s line up featured Ellie Bleach and local Brighton based bands Trip Westerns, Room Service and Baby Gem.
Ellie Bleach
London-based singer-songwriter Ellie Bleach was the main act on Wednesday night’s bill. She writes witty lyrics about the strangeness of modern life. Her razor-sharp satire harbours a biting cynicism. Ellie was on keyboards and vocals and she was joined on The Hope & Ruin stage by a drummer, bassist, guitarist and another keyboard player. Ellie Bleach’s pop sound had a cabaret, showtune quality feel about it. It had a fresh take on nostalgia. Ellie had a very powerful voice, which was even more impressive as she was sitting during most of the set at her keyboard.
The slide guitar on ‘Big Strong Man’ added a country note to the band’s sound. For the next song Ellie swapped places with the other keyboard player, standing to sing ‘Hottest Man Alive’. ‘Whole Lotta Nothing’ had a mellow, classy nightclub feel and showed off both the power and range of Ellie’s voice. What turned out to be the last song of the set, ‘Doing Really Well Thanks’ had a cheeky showtune feel to it. Unfortunately, there wasn’t time for the last song on the set list, her latest single ‘Pamula’. This was a shame, as Ellie’s performance was very good. I’m sure everybody there would have enjoyed another song.
Ellie Bleach setlist:
‘I Thought I Saw You I Saw Last Night’
‘Precious Feelings’
‘Big Strong Man’
‘Hottest Man Alive’
‘Whole Lotta Nothing’
‘Lakehouse’
‘Doing Really Well Thanks’
Trip Westerns are a five-piece rock ’n’ roll band formed and based in Brighton. They consist of Harrison (lead vocals), Graham (bass), Reece (guitar), Luciano (guitar and bongos), Ellis D (drums). Their Stetsons gave a clue to the spaghetti western soundtracks in their sound. The core of their sound was a lively mix of mid-20th century rock and R&B, intertwined with surf and psychedelia.
Harrison started the first song ‘Hot Water’ on harmonica adding to the country and western feel. Both ‘Dead Of Night’ and ‘No Clues Blues’ were very lively songs, which got almost everybody dancing. For ‘Showdown’ Luciano played bongos adding another element to the band’s sound.
Trip Western were a very tight band. Ellis D gave a great performance on drums, including some striking drum solos. Harrison had a very strong voice, not needing to revert to shouting to be heard above the brilliant guitar sound. On the penultimate song ‘Free Mind’, they created a wonderful country wall of sound, which was as good as it was different. ‘Blame’, their last song, had a psychedelic feel and a very fast and outstanding 60s sounding instrumental break. The energetic and thoroughly entertaining set by Trip Westerns went down very well with the audience with many dancing along and huge cheers after songs and at the end of the set.
Trip Westerns setlist:
‘Hot Water’
‘Dead Of Night’
‘No Clues Blues’
‘Showdown’
‘Alive’
‘False’
‘Free Mind’
‘Blame’
Brighton’s Room Service are a musical mixing pot combining a blend of funk rhythms, riffy disco, twisting rap beats, psychedelic soundscapes and trippy melodies. Usually a six-piece band, they had one member absent and played ‘Hidden Herd Presents’ as a five-piece.
Room Service had a yacht rock pop sound, with a guitarist providing a funky element. Helena gave a good performance on vocals. She swapped places with the band’s drummer for a slower song mid-set, and they shared vocals on other songs.
Helena introduced the last two songs of the set as “funny songs”. These were also the fastest and loudest songs of their performance. On the last song, Helena belted out the lyrics with a megaphone. The outfit got a big cheer from The Hope & Ruin crowd after those comedy fast songs that ended the set.
There was a sizeable crowd for the opening band of the evening, Baby Gem. The five-piece Brighton-based band wove poetic and observational lyrics into their hypnotic and cinematic compositions. There was a 70s US psychedelic rock feel about their sound on their opening numbers. The shared vocals between Tula and Fletcher worked well both together and when singing solo. There was good variation and emotions in their voices throughout the set.
Baby Gem’s third song had the bizarre working title ‘Jazz Cabbage’. Felcher admitted “It’s not even jazzy”. It started with an ethereal guitar solo and Fletcher’s vocal, before the others joined, giving the song a goth-like sound. After that song, Fetcher said “Now we’re having fun, let’s do a depressing song”. Tula explained the song ‘Who Am I?’ was “Dedicated to all the women subjected to abuse and the good men who supported them.” Understandably this was a very emotional performance, with wonderful vocals from Tula.
The last song in their set ‘In My Veins’ was their loudest and a bit of a rock number. There was even a light show for this one, to accompany some very good guitar work. There was loud applause at the end of an interesting and entertaining opening performance of unreleased material from Baby Gem and this bodes well for the band’s future.
‘Hidden Herd Presents’ returns to The Hope & Ruin on Wednesday 30th August featuring Cruush, World News, FEZ and Matisse. Tickets can be bought HERE.
After that on Wednesday 27th September the following Hidden Gerd night will be presenting Freya Beer, Winter Gardens, Everyday Saints and Mission Creep. Purchase your tickets for that night HERE.
