Looks like the place to be in Brighton for those intent on witnessing a handful of wild exciting local bands on Friday 1st September will be at the Green Door Store. The venue will swing open its doors at 6pm and the event will run up until 10:15pm or even later as there’s likely to be an after party!
The evening is going under the banner of ‘Lyn’s Trans Fundraiser ii’ and will feature live music sets from local legends The Atom Jacks, Pussyliquor, The Damn Shebang, Electric Cowboy Club and Vegan Meat Raffle. There are no advance ticket sales for this event, only a suggested £10 donation (or pay what you can) on the door. With such a quality lineup, it would be wise to get down there nice and early. Those wishing to attend must be 18+.
This follows on from ‘Lyn’s Trans Fundraiser’ event at the Green Door Store on Saturday 25th March and this new event has an even larger lineup. The Brighton & Hove News have previously reviewed four of the five acts taking part in the 1st September event. So in order to give you a vibe of the night, here are snippets of what we have already witnessed:
THE ATOM JACKS – THE HOPE & RUIN 31.12.22
The Atom Jacks are a Civil Défense detachment formed to spread information to the general public on action when under atomic threat. Through music. For science and your own safety. Nuclear Power Surf. Kaboom!.
We have been totally blown away by The Atom Jacks on several occasions during the past year or so and we knew to expect a truly top notch performance this evening. We weren’t disappointed! We were somewhat surprised as being a fancy dress ‘Heroes vs Villains New Year’s Eve Ball’, we had assumed that the instrumental trio featuring former BIMM Brighton students Jamie Hewitt on guitar, Lyn Gasper on bass and Sam Hoare on drums, would simply turn up wearing their hazmat jumpsuits which will protect them from any nuclear fallout and flying champagne corks. But no, they were in disguise!
Lyn on 6 string bass was still sporting the Edvard Munch ‘The Scream’ look that had been worn earlier in the night when playing with The Damn Shebang, and spokesperson/guitarist Hewitt had morphed into a member of Devo who was wearing the same style spectacles as The Riddler supervillain in ‘The Batman’ movie.
They began their set with a cover of The Specials ‘Ghost Town’, a number which they have previously finished their sets with. Clearly it was all change this evening. As always, their set was a real bum shaking foot tapping bonanza that really rocked and both Lyn and Jamie ventured into the crowd, who were unreal and continually whooped and shouted joy throughout their whole 60’s spy movie music vibe performance. This was the performance of the night!
www.instagram.com/theatomjacks
PUSSYLIQUOR – THE HOPE & RUIN 31.7.23
Before the all conquering escapades of Lambrini Girls, there was Pussyliquor, who were proudly flying the flag for uncensored female rage on the Brighton punk/riot grrrl scene. The lineup features Ari Black (vocals), Victoria Lewis Piper (drums), Hannah Villanueva (Fender guitar) and Tallulah Turner-Fray (Fender bass), who originally met up via their degree courses with Access To Music Brighton and bonded over a passion for hard-core music and even harder core feminist beliefs.
The band are all in their early twenties and they have the no-nonsense and in your face approach that recalls the spirit and energy of Cosey Fanni Tutti, L7 and The Slits. Together they’re fighting a cause and celebrating what it means to be a woman.
The quartet took to the stage at 10:16pm and for the next forty minutes (until 10:56pm), they and an additional (male) guitarist JJ Symon from The Damn Shebang set the world to rights. The outfit begins with their shouty ‘C.*.N.T’ anthem, which almost from the off saw singer Ari throw herself to the floor. ‘Pretty Good For A Girl’ followed and I can wholeheartedly confirm at this point that they sounded as good as they used to be pre-Covid, if not better! The catchy ‘Hurtz’ with its “‘cos you only like to” chorus speedily followed. For this track, Ari joined the punters in the crowd for some dance/mosh action.
‘Apathy’ vocally reminded me of the heaviest parts of X-Ray Spex’s Poly Styrene tracks from back in the day. This track was just as good as its predecessor. ‘Buy More Shit’ was up next and another decent ditty. Then it was surprise time as Ari informs us that “this is a very old tune” and low and behold they launch into Shel Silverstein’s ‘Boa Constrictor’ tune found on his 1962 ‘Inside Folk Songs’ album. Ari went for a final wander during the tune as well. It had been a truly fantastic night out and I can’t wait for the next Pussyliquor gigs to be announced and hopefully an album.
THE DAMN SHEBANG – THE HOPE & RUIN 31.7.23
The Damn Shebang who bill themselves as “Brighton’s premiere evil R’n’R band”. Tonight, the quartet of Dead Seany (vocals/keys), JJ Symon (guitar/backing vocals), Lyn Gasper (bass) and Dan Brown (drums) whizzed through no less than eight tunes in their 25 minute set. This wasn’t our first encounter with the band, whose name is stylized to ‘The Dmn Shbng’ as they formed here in town (Brighton) back in 2015.
I noted that this evening Lyn, who is also a member of The Atom Jacks, was playing a normal 4-string bass, (a Squier Phoenix I think), whereas I have seen her playing a distinctive 6-stringed bass on at least one other occasion. The Damn Shebang is however, very much the lead of vocalist Dead Seany, who is also in charge of the compact Yamaha Reface YC combo organ keyboard. Having said that, the spokesperson in between tunes is JJ Symon on Burns Marquee electric guitar. He introduces most of the tunes, which is most helpful for a reviewer. Drummer Dan Brown also gets his say on his mic at one stage during the set.
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. This is evident from the very off with the rumbly bass heavy sounds of their Kip Tyler cover ‘She’s My Witch’ as well as ‘Molly’. Vocalist Seany then gets up close and personal for ‘Let’s Get Pleathered’ when he moves forward and stands on the central ground speaker, thus towering over the eager punters.
I particularly enjoyed the retro sounding keys on tune seven, ‘Zodiak Advice Line’. Throughout the set there were twangs aplenty from the guitar and bass, which were supplemented by the keys and drums, and Seany enjoyed offloading his vocals in a meaty style. My choice TDS tune was their final number, ‘Be Your Baby’, which just happens to be their fastest and most punky tune and I particularly enjoyed Dan’s drumming on this track.
ELECTRIC COWBOY CLUB – THE ARCH 24.3.23
E.C.C (Electric Cowboy Club) are a Brighton based quartet that dropped their ‘Grapefruit Baby’ single just before last Christmas. Prior to that they released ‘Coconut Tree’ back in October as a single. The band is made up of Brandon Parker (vocals), James Lissimore (guitar), Jacob Lenadd O’Shea (bass) and Wyn Harcourt (drums).
Drums…check, Epiphone bass…check, Squier Mustang guitar…check, vocalist…oh, no vocalist! Then all of a sudden from behind us, this young topless tattooed guy suddenly appears and clambers over the crowd barrier and rolls onto the stage! The existent trio don’t bat an eyelid! I would have thought that at least one of them would have thrown this imposter off the stage! Hold on a minute…it’s the singer, Brandon Parker. What an entrance! But there’s more…much, much more! Suffice to say that if Duracell Batteries are after something different in order to promote their wares, then Brandon’s your man.
They begin with ‘Reality’, the first of their ten tunes, and musically it sounds rather promising trash rock n’ roll. Song two ‘Yeh’ I’m Movin’’, was more than adequately demonstrated by Brandon as he vacated the stage (one of many trips as it turned out) and lived up to the title of this ditty by joining us in the crowd and whizzing all around us. Song three ‘Trippin’’ and Brandon kicked off the moshpit and the punters that were just starting to dabble beforehand, were now encouraged to go full throttle. I was standing there thinking to myself that vocally it’s got more than a nod to Jello Biafra (former frontman of the Dead Kennedys) and Brandon even sounds American when singing but I think he’s a Brighton boy, physically it was heyday Iggy Pop on steroids, and musically it’s The Cramps. Not a bad combination if you think about it.
Brandon was really up for it, and when I say really up for it, I mean REALLY up for it. One isn’t really sure what he’s going to do next, but I would guess that something around 15 to 20% of their set was filled with Brandon writhing around on the floor! As Iggy said “I’m a real wild one, wild one, wild one, wild one”. Brandon is extremely animated and his energy levels were literally off the scale, hence the Duracell reference. E.C.C are a band seen once and not forgotten, that is if all of their sets are like this! Guess we will find out next time!
Also on the bill will be VEGAN MEAT RAFFLE, who we have yet to encounter.
